Mark and Mindy
by Sarcastrow
Summary: Mark Watney had a guardian angel. She watched over him, cheered for him, feared for him. What happened when they finally met? How did they survive celebrity? And what does the future hold for man and Mars? Step this way, oh faithful one, and let me tell you.
1. Chapter 1 Mark and Mindy

Mark and Mindy

Mindy looked up at the mission status board and stretched her back. Several loud cracks issued from it and she smiled. _I'll make it up to you_ Venkat's voice said in her head. He had. The glowing blue letters in the Lucite panel above her console said FLIGHT CONTROL. Brendan was control command, but Mindy was his second, and she was on track to do control for the expanded Aries Six mission two years away.

10 light minutes away the Ares Five crew were at Schiaparelli crater. The treasure that was "The Watney Collection" had been lusted after for almost seven years. Mark had collected specimens every time he stopped on his trek across Mars. He had carefully collected and bagged them, photographed their original location, set out the Morse code message to NASA detailing the number of the sample, and left them in saddle bags of the rover. It was a priceless boon for science.

Mindy chuckled to herself. After Mark had been rescued there was the inevitable round of debate about the cost of his rescue. The geology team at NASA had immunized the whole organization with a statement of undeniable math. In simple dollar per hour of science terms, Mark Watney had been the bargain of the millennia. The total bill for his rescue had amounted to three billion dollars, divided by the time he spent at Mars totaled around two hundred thousand an hour. Cheaper than any other mission in history.

And it had completely changed the direction of Mars exploration, or as it had been renamed, The Mars Colonization Project.

The giant display above Mission control showed the Ares Four/Five site from a dozen different perspectives. Currently taikonaut Nie Yaping was helping Vladimir Stotiefski set up the green houses. The automated glass plant, which had been sent well ahead of the mission, had dutifully made from the Martian sand the almost five hundred two foot by four foot by ten inch thick glass panels that would make up each of the greenhouses. Yaping and Vlad where half way through assembling the titanium framework for the second greenhouse. Commander Smith and his second, Jane Commendams were laying the last panels in the roof of greenhouse one. Schiaparelli crater would be mankind's first home on another world.

They had visited, now they would stay, because Mark had proved they could.

Mindy smiled and rubbed her belly bump. No one had been more surprised than Mindy when Mark had sought her out after his whirlwind "Thanks for Saving my Sorry Ass" world tour. He had suddenly appeared in front of her console at Mission Control, smiled that beguiling sideways grin, and said, "Hey, Mindy, I'm Mark Watney. I feel like we already know each other from the months email on the way back from Mars, but, dinner?"

She had handed her headset to Guy and left with Mark without a word. She didn't return to work for three days.

That had been six and a half years ago, and she hadn't spent more than two days without seeing him since. He had fallen for the mousy, poorly dressed, but undeniably pretty woman in just a few days. She had been in love with him for almost a year. The fact that women threw themselves at Mark didn't bother her because he was just so noble. It embarrassed him. His humility in the face of his fame was an incredibly attractive part of his character, and she rewarded him frequently for it.

Her computer made the sound of an arrow followed by a voice saying, "Message for you, sir."

(Watney,Ma)Hey there, how's our little astronaut today?

(Wateny, Mi)Making me hungry and sick at the same time! Look what you did to me!)

(Watney,Ma) LOL, Didn't hear you complaining, in fact what I heard was…

(Wateny, Mi) Finish that sentence and you'll never hear it again.

(Watney,Ma)God I love you.

(Wateny, Mi)Copy that.

(Watney,Ma)Putting together dinner. Jambalaya okay?

(Wateny, Mi)Sure. Greenhouses are coming along well.

(Watney,Ma) Cool, they need me to come micromanage the assembly? ;)

(Watney,Mi) Ha, ha. Are you ever going to forgive exobotany?

(Watney,Ma) Hmmm, nope.

(Watney,Mi) Five crew says thanks for the Welcome to Mars spud feast. They were apparently still very tasty.

(Watney,Ma)Awesome! Tell them my compliments.

(Watney,Mi)Will do. Love you. See you at eight.

(Watney,Ma) Love you, and give Venkat hell for me today."

Mindy smiled and closed the chat session. "Capcom, prepare a message for the crew. Tell them Mark Watney says 'You're welcome'."

A soft round of laughter percolated through the control room.


	2. Chapter 2 First Date

First date

"Okay, Terry, Pull over right here."

"Sure thing, Mr. Watney," The Limo driver said. "It says no parking."

"I called ahead, they'll be fine," Mark said with a smile.

"Guess you get what you want here at NASA," Terry chuckled.

"I suppose," Mark said. "I really try not to take advantage of it though. Ah, there's Venkat." He stepped out of the limo's back door and greeted his friend. "Thanks for arranging this, Ven, flying under the radar is a little challenging for me these days."

"No problem, Mark," Venkat said. "Nobody knows you're here, and I saw her earlier. She has no idea."

Mark smiled broadly. "Great. So, If I keep her out late you'll be okay with a little time off for her?"

Venkat's eyebrow raised. "Isn't that a bit optimistic on your part?"

Mark blushed and laughed. "No, that's not what I meant. The play is long and if we go for drinks it could be well past midnight."

Venkat laughed and shook his head. "You're too easy, come on."

Walking through the halls of mission control they passed displays from all of the previous missions, Mercury through Ares, they were all represented. The last display was a collage of photographs, news clippings, and vid clips of the Ares Three mission and his rescue. The backdrop was a life sized print of the now famous AAYYYY picture.

"Annie wanted to choke the life out of you for that pic," Venkat said and laughed. "Highest selling print NASA has ever had on the merch site."

"So I was wrong," A feminine voice said from behind them. "Kiss my ass."

They turned to the smiling face of Annie Montrose. "Good afternoon, Annie," Venkat said. "Good to see you're in your usual fine form."

Annie laughed. "Fuck you very much, Ven. Why's Mark here? I thought you had the next few days off?" she asked Mark.

"I do, I'm… um…"

"He's here to ask Mindy out," Venkat said.

"Thanks," Mark said sardonically.

"Really?" Annie said with a grin. "That's great, well I've got PR to do. See you, Mark," she said and turned to Venkat and winked. "See you later, asshole."

"How in the hell is she still employed?" Mark asked Venkat as Annie walked away laughing.

"Beats the fuck out of me," Venkat replied.

(*)

Mindy Park looked up at the mission control board that displayed a large cross-sectional diagram of the Hermes as she sat in spacedock. The Hermes was the largest, most expensive, and most advanced craft humanity had yet built, and the spacedock dwarfed it. With nearly twice the mass of the Hermes the half mile long, five hundred foot on a side rectangular box of titanium lattice and expando modules cruised along in geosync orbit at one hundred five degrees west. It was easily seen with the naked eye from anywhere in the western hemisphere. The video feed showed the ongoing replacement of VASMIR one's cooling fins as the earth rotated peacefully below.

The Hermes was slightly the worse for the wear, but she would be polished, ready, and waiting in three years for the Ares Five crew to take them to Mars. She would make the trip twice more before her well-earned retirement. Her replacement was already beginning to be assembled half a world away at the Malaysian spacedock. The Hermes was big, the Kore would be huge. Fifty colonists and ten crew would ply the interplanetary gulf in her seven hundred foot fuselage. Forty thousand cubic feet of water would be stored and reused in the ten feet between the inner and outer hull, providing all the shielding from the cosmic radiation humans required.

And ten fifty thousand newton VASMIR five engines would get her there in three months.

Mindy looked back at her console. The trajectories of the flotilla of spacecraft orbiting Mars represented by lines of various colors curving over the flattened map of the planet. She was currently collecting high res pictures of every stop Watney had made during his trek from the Ares Three hab to the Schiaparelli site. They had started to refer to the samples Mark had acquired on his journey as "The Watney Collection", and the Mars geology team was practically salivating to get at those rocks.

Mark Watney, she couldn't help the smile that came with thinking about him. They had become friends, very real friends, who had never met in person. During his recovery from the rather abusive launch he was put through Dr. Beck had relegated him to bed rest in the ring at one G most of the day. He had spent that time researching everyone responsible for his rescue, finding their Email addresses, and thanking them personally. She was the first person he wrote, and she kept a printed copy of the letter framed in her bedroom.

To: Mindy Park, Satcon (MPARK .ORG)

FR: Mark Watney, Fight (MWATNEY .ORG)

SUBJ: Thanks

Hi, Ms. Park, I'm Mark Watney

First off, THANK YOU! I understand that you were the first person to realize I wasn't dead. I can't begin to tell you what that means to me. YOU are my hero. They tell me that you watched me for the entire time, slept when I did, wore the same clothes for days on end (we were partners in that, though I think I have you beat), and generally took up being my guardian angel.

I wanted to write you before anyone else (Including mom, if you can believe that) because you are the reason I can write those other people.

I'd like to get to know you more. Everyone knows about me now (astronaut rolling his eyes on this end) but the real heroes, like you, remain anonymous. So let's talk. What do you like in music? (please, please don't say disco!) Favorite movie? Food? Fill me in.

Ah crap, Beck is back for more PT.

WRITE ME!

Mark Watney.

She had. They averaged an Email a day. By the time the Hermes was back in orbit she considered Mark one of her closest friends. Smiling, Mindy sat back, took off her glasses, and closed her eyes, rubbing them with the heels of her hands. She wondered where in the world he was at the moment. Montrose had him flying all over the planet on his "Welcome Back" tour, and his Emails had become less frequent. She knew why, but it still disappointed her a bit.

Guy Martin's voice interrupted her reverie. "Umm, Mindy?" he said, and she opened her eyes.

Mark Watney was standing right in front of her console. , "Hey, Mindy, I'm Mark Watney. I feel like we already know each other from the months email on the way back from Mars, but, dinner?"

Years later she still had trouble remembering the next five minutes.

 _Like you need to introduce yourself_ she had though through the shock.

"Yeah… um… I," she looked around in a daze for her bag. "Uh, okay." She handed Guy her headset and followed Mark from the room. They made it to the atrium before Annie came running from the elevator.

"Nope, Nope, Nope," Annie shouted as she ran. She slid to a stop beside them. "Mark, there's a tour group from Houston Advanced Middle School in the gift shop. Go sign some posters. Mindy, come with me." She grabbed Mindy's arm and drug her toward the elevator. "Ten minutes!" she shouted. And before Mindy knew what was happening she was in the elevator heading to the eighth floor.

She found her voice as the fog of confusion lifted. "What the hell, Annie?"

"You are NOT going out with Mark Watney dressed like a fucking engineer!"

"I am an engineer," Mindy said with a grin.

"Yeah well tonight you're representing NASA, in public, and there will be pictures in the media," Annie said. "So shut the fuck up and let me fix you."

Mindy was stuck dead in the middle of amusement and annoyance. "Okay," she said with a huff.

"Great." The door opened and Annie pulled her down the hall at a near run. Opening her office door she said, "In, we don't have a lot of time." She went to the closet in her combination office/dressing room and ripped it open. "We're the same size." She looked Mindy up and down. "Ish. Strip."

Mindy looked at her with wide eyes.

"Come on, you go to the gym. I've seen you there. Strip, now!" Annie said.

"You really know how to romance a girl," Mindy said with a smirk as she pulled off her pink top.

"And you're joining my 'fuck you' club. Hurry up."

Mindy was deciding that Annie Montrose was a very cool woman. She pulled her black and white tiger striped leggings and stood in front of Annie in just her bra and panties.

"Oh Christ!" Annie said. "Here." She pulled open a drawer in the closet and retrieved a black lace bra underwear set with matching stockings. "Sports bra? Plain undies? Good god, woman!"

"I'm an engineer," Mindy said with a smirk.

"Well tonight you're Mark Watney's date, so muscle up. Go, go, go," Annie said and hurried Mindy through her change of undergarments. "Light blue I think," she said as she appraised Mindy.

Mindy looked at herself in the mirror on the door of the closet and was slightly surprised. She wasn't a fashion conscious woman in any way, and she couldn't care less if her body conformed to what was thought of as ideal, she just kept herself healthy and within a few pounds of her chosen weight. That said, what she saw in the mirror was a pretty, shapely woman in lingerie. Annie chuckled at her expression.

"I knew there was something under the frump, didn't know it was that nice though," Annie said and waggled her eyes.

"You're married," Mindy said as she slipped into the knee length blue designer dress that Annie handed her.

"Roberta doesn't mind if I look." Annie turned Mindy back to the mirror and pulled the tie from her hair. "Okay, makeup and doo, and please tell me you can manage heels." Annie shoved her into the chair in front of the makeup station.

"No more than three inches," Mindy said.

"Fine," Annie huffed as she applied a light powder to Mindy's cheeks. A few passes with a delicate rose colored blush, some subtle pink lip gloss, and Annie began attempting to tame the mess that was Mindy's hair. "If there's a second date, you're going to my hair dresser." It wasn't a request.

True to her word, ten minutes after she had drug Mindy to the elevator Annie re-appeared with a refurbished engineer in tow. She giggled at the carp like look on Watney's face. "Close your mouth, you'll catch flies," She said, smirking. "Alright you two, out."

 _Holy shit! What he fuck happened to the plain Jane that went up the elevator_ Mark thought as he crossed the atrium. _Jesus!_

Mindy was very pleased at the look on her date's face. "Annie's a bit of a magician, eh?"

All he could manage was, "Uh huh."

(*)

The Tako Din Sum restaurant was a favorite of the astronaut corps, it wasn't unusual to find past and present spacefarers there. That didn't change the reception Mark got every time he stepped into a large public place, though. They stood and they clapped, every time. He leaned in to a man standing next to him. "Mind if I use your chair?" he asked. The man nodded. Mark let go of Mindy's hand and stood on the padded seat of the chair.

"Thank you," he said to the applauding crowd in the restaurant, and they quieted. "Thank you so much. So, what I want to tell you is that I'm just a guy. I'm just another human like you, and that's the real wonder of what happened to me. You all, everyone on the Earth, came to my rescue. If you think it was just NASA and CNSA you're wrong. It was the whole of the planet, and that means you specifically. You saved me. Thank you."

Tears ran down Mindy's face, and she wasn't alone. A huge cheer went up, and she noticed that almost everyone, the Maitre d' included, had wet eyes. Her heart wanted to explode.

"This way, Mr. Watney," The Maitre d said in an emotion roughed voice.

(*)

"That was without a doubt the best first date of my life," Mindy said in front of her door.

"Glad you liked the play, it's one of my favorites."

"I read most of Stephen King's works while I was in college," Mindy said. "I've heard some of the songs from 'Ghost Brothers' but I've never seen the whole play. Thanks."

She looked up into his eyes and got lost in the blue. He smiled. This was the moment, it would happen or not, it was up to him. He leaned in and kissed her, softly, gently, with just a hint of passion. She melted. Entwining her arms around him she deepened the kiss into a genuine snog. They broke apart a few moments later.

"So, I really want to see you again, often," He said with a stupid grin on his face.

Hers was just as just a silly. "I'd like that a lot, Mark," She said and kissed him again. The minutes passed. "Um, look, I'm really not that girl, but we've known each other for what, five months now?" He nodded. She screwed up her courage. "Wanna come in?"

(*)

 _Oh. My. Fucking. God! That was the best sex of my life. Jesus, Mindy!_ He lay back to catch his breath.

(*)

 _Oh. My. Fucking. God! That was the best sex of my life. Jesus, Mark!_ She flopped down on the bed next to him and wrapped herself around his side

(*)

"You okay?" he asked. "It's been a good while for me, but that was… Wow! You actually kind of scared me a little there."

She chuckled. "I think I scared myself a little. A good while? You've been back for two and half months. None of those Hollywood starlets drug you off?'

"They tried," He said with a smirk. "I was tempted, but it's just not me. I need to know a girl first."

She fell a little bit more in love with him.

"So yeah, you're the first in…three years?"

"Seriously? Okay, then I don't feel so bad at four."

He kissed her softly. "Four years? Really? Damn stupid of the guys in mission control.

She laughed. "You don't work in there. Nobody can maintain a relationship with another engineer in control, we're to competitive." She huffed. "Been that way my whole life. One fifty seven IQ, great at math, missed perfect on the SATs by three questions, I intimidate the shit out of men," she said and smiled at him. "Well, most men."

"I like smart women.

"I'm glad" she said.

(*)

(Watney,Ma)Mindy won't be in today (or probably tomorrow).

(Kapoor,Ve)(raises eyebrow) okay

(Watney,Ma)Hey, don't think that. (You're right, but don't think it)

(Kapoor,Ve) LOL, Okay, but Annie wants her before you guys go out in public again.

(Watney,Ma)Yeah, Min told me.

(Kapoor,Ve)Pet names already?

(Watney,Ma)We've been talking for months, Ven.

(Kapoor,Ve)Hey, I get my entertainment where I can.

(Watney,Ma)Tell Annie to say fuck you for me.

(Kapoor,Ve)Will do. Roll over and tell Mindy she's got the next three days.

(Watney,Ma)Fuck you ;)

(Kapoor,Ve)That's what…

(Watney,Ma)Fuck you.

(Kapoor,Ve)LOL


	3. Chapter 3 Nightmare

Nightmare

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since their first date, Mindy thought as she snuggled into Mark's side. The intense hazing she had received on her return to work had turned to knowing smiles, chuckles, and requests for wedding invitations. She was working on a list in her head.

They were at his place tonight. The yearly congressional reception dinner had gone well, and Mark had delivered a variant of his well-honed and always heartfelt 'thank you' speech to a very receptive audience. They had, of course, sought him out to shake his hand and get a picture with him. But Mindy had found, to her great surprise, that she was the one many of them wanted to talk to. Their story was still in the proper news, and not just the tabloid media and celebrity sections.

Much to her amazement, Mindy Park was now a name most of the planet knew. She had gained a minor amount of fame from her name and picture being listed among the principals involved in Mark's rescue, but that was nothing compared to what happened when she went out in public now, and if the two of them were together, as was usually the case these days she thought with a grin, it was a circus.

She pulled him tight as sleep claimed her, and Mindy wondered once again at how totally, completely, achingly in love with Mark she was.

(*)

"Next set of images in process, Satcon," Art said.

"Copy, send them over when they're ready," Mindy told Arthur Mendel, Data Traffic manager for the Deep Space Com system.

Her computer chimed and she smiled. As she viewed the image of Schiaparelli Crater's east end her smile fell. The whole world shrank to a small dot in the middle of a black tunnel. The rover was on its side and the trailer was upside down.

Her hands were shaking so hard she couldn't operate her mouse as she attempted to zoom in on the rover crash site. Tears poured out of her eyes as she thought the words, _please, please, please,_ and she clenched them shut. _He survived everything else, he'll survive this, get it together, Min. He's okay, he'll be okay._ She opened her eyes.Her hands shook a little less as she scroll-zoomed in on the crash site with her right hand and dialed Mitch's number with her left.

(*)

Mark woke to Mindy grabbing him hard and crushing herself to his side.

"Just a dream, just a dream, this is real, you're here, this is real, this is real …"

"Min? Min?" he said as he turned her face to his. "You okay?" she just sobbed against his chest for a few moments as he held her.

Finally she calmed, pulled back, and looked at him through her tears. "Nightmare. I've had it before."

Mark nodded. She'd told him about it in her Emails during his return from Mars. He took up the edge of the sheet and dried her face. "Rolled rover?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said and nodded. "Haven't had it for," she chuckled wetly and smiled, "about a month."

"Sorry I scared you," He said and kissed her.

She hugged him hard again. "So badly, Mark. I thought I was gonna pass out when the first image came through."

"Hey," He said softly and turned her face to his again. "I'm here, you're here, and I'm not going back to Mars, so you don't have to worry about that ever again." He kissed her deeply. "I love you, Mindy Park, and as you may have noticed, I'm tenacious."

She peeled off the vest of her NASA logoed sleep set, threw it behind her, and attacked him. In three weeks she had learned how to get him aroused. Mostly being present and willing did it, but at this moment she wanted to show him just how much she loved him, just how much she wanted him. She threw the covers off the foot of the bed, they were just going to be in the way.

Mark smiled and kissed her. "Okay, okay, slow down a little and let me wake up… I… ohhoho,"

(*)

Mindy woke to the sun in her eyes. She was laying naked next to an equally naked astronaut, a hastily grabbed sheet thrown over them. As her word came into a dull focus she reached for her glasses and found that she and Mark were one hundred eighty degrees out from where they should have been. Her feet were tangled in Marks pillows. Her head was on one of hers and Mark was using her right breast for his pillow. Her chuckling roused him.

"You know," he said. "I've heard about welcome home sex, make up sex, birthday sex, Martinez had a story for all of them, but I've never heard about post nightmare sex."

"I owe you one," she said. "Thanks, Mark. Hope you don't think your girlfriend's a psycho."

He laughed. "My girlfriend is a psycho," he said kissed her slowly and gently. "A brilliant, compassionate, crazy, guardian angel, and she's nuts enough to love me. How'd I get so lucky?"

They were late for work… again.


	4. Chapter 4 Stalker

Stalker

"Hi, Roberta," Mindy said to Annie's stylist wife as she entered Annie's office. "Where's Der Fuhrer?" she asked as she laid her garment bag across a chair.

The door to attached bathroom opened. "Have I said fuck you today?" Annie said as she exited.

Mindy laughed. "Not yet."

"Okay, fuck you," Annie said. Roberta and Mindy both laughed. "Now that that's over with," Annie continued. "I read what you wrote me last night and the police report this morning. Let's go over what you're going to tell the mooks in the press room."

"Okay."

Annie nodded. "Well, the world has guessed that you're sleeping together, but you two have never confirmed it. We need to have a joke ready for the barrage that'll come with the beginning of the story, much less that fucking fairy tale the bitch is telling now."

Mindy grinned and snorted, Annie turned to her with a suspicious expression. "It's not true, is it?"

Mindy smiled slyly. "Let Roberta get to work on me, and I'll tell you the story."

(*)

"As you now know, Mark Watney and Mindy Park were accosted last night in Mindy's apartment," Annie said to the packed room. "Ms. Maryanne Holcombe broke into Mindy's apartment at around two in the morning. Mindy awoke to an intruder in her bedroom and proceeded to defend herself and Mark." Annie suppressed a laugh, but she couldn't help the smile as she thought about what Mindy had told her. "The police report is an accurate description of the scene as they found it, but is light on details that I'm sure you want to know. To that end we have decided to make Mark and Mindy available for a few questions."

The door to the media ready room opened, and Mark preceded Mindy out onto the raised platform amid a flurry of flashes.

"Mark! Mark!"

"Mindy, over here!"

"Mindy!"

"Mark!"

The shouts stopped when Annie glared at the reporters. She smirked. They knew the rules, and they also knew that if they broke them in any serious way Annie would bounce whoever did it like a three o clock drunk. "We'll start with… Leon, CNN," Annie said.

The tall black man stood. "Good afternoon, Mark, Mindy. Leon Thomas, CNN. Let's start at the beginning. When did you first become aware you had a visitor?"

Mark looked to his side and smiled. He had warned Mindy that she was going to do most of the talking, as it really was her story. "This ones yours, babe," he said and squeezed her hand.

 _Imagine you're telling it to the crew,_ Mark had told her. _Okay,_ she thought. _Here we go._ "The beginning goes back a long time," she said. "I'm an only child, so my dad was really into making sure I could take care of myself. It's part of why I'm an engineer. He taught me about cars and computers, treehouses and dogs, and he taught me about self-defense. I have an intruder alarm he got me years ago, it just makes these little chimes, very subtle, but that sound is enough to wake me." She took a sip of water and Mark squeezed her hand again.

"I woke to the chimes as the bedroom door opened."

"What about you, Mark?" A reported yelled out.

Mark sniggered. "I was sleeping the sleep of the happy astronaut back on Earth next to his girlfriend."

There was a round of chuckles and they all looked at Mindy. "I could see a medium height woman framed in the doorway. I had on one of those super soft snug fit pajama sets that look like the Ares mission suits, they sell them down in the gift shop. Anyway, I jumped out of bed and confronted her."

"And, Mark?" Leon from CNN asked.

"I wasn't wearing anything," Mark said, and the room exploded in laughter. He winked at Annie, the joke had played perfectly. "Oh, yeah, well I woke up to my bad ass girlfriend in 'I'm gonna whoop up on a bitch' mode." The room roared in laughter again.

When they quieted Leon asked, "What'd she do?"

"She whooped up on a bitch."

Mindy kissed his cheek as the reporters laughed, and a thousand flashes went off. Anytime she kissed him in public it made the media. "I gave her a Sajo Jirugi to the sternum and bounced her off the wall. Then I did it again. That took her by surprise," she said.

"Sajo Jirugi?" someone asked. Annie smirked. When Mindy had related this part of the tale to her she had been thoroughly impressed.

"Sajo Jirugi is a style of Taekwondo punch. I've studied martial arts for almost twenty years."

Annie actually did smile. That shut them up.

Mark leaned forward. "I did say 'bad ass girlfriend' didn't I?" He snickered. "I was coming awake. I had great view as Mindy punched her twice more, and then she side kicked the idiot out the bedroom door."

Annie was now openly laughing at the stunned faces looking at Mindy.

"Dumb bitch broke my coffee table," Mindy muttered, annoyed. "I told her to stay down, but she still wanted to fight. I… convinced her that was a bad idea."

The reporters chuckled. They had read the police report that detailed the injuries Holcombe had sustained. She wouldn't be leaving the infirmary at the jail for a few days.

"Were either of you hurt?" a woman in the front row asked.

 _Time for joke two,_ Mark thought. "Well, she scuffed the hell out of Min's knuckles with her face," he said, and the room howled again. He took her right hand and kissed her knuckles, the flashes exploding in a firestorm. "I was up by then, and I jumped into my shorts. When I got to the living room Min had her… subdued."

"I asked Mark to get me some zip ties I have in my junk drawer. I put one around her ankles, one around her wrists and linked the two with the third behind her back.'

"Hogtied!" a southern accent yelled.

"Yep," Mark said, and he looked to his side proudly. "Bad. Ass. Girlfriend."

Mindy smiled, blushed, and kissed his cheek again. More flashes. Here it was. She looked at Mark and Annie. _We just have to keep a straight face through this._ She heard Annie's voice say.

Every hand raised. "Quentin?" Annie called.

Red faced, Quentin Arnold rose from his chair. "Um… okay, Quentin Arnold, AP. So the question I guess I get to ask is, Holcombe now says you two had sex on the couch right in front of her before you called the police. Is that true?" There was a smattering of snickers.

"I'll take that one," Mark said. "Now please, really, do any of you folks honestly believe that?"

Annie looked around the room and smiled. Oh yeah, they all believed it, to a person, but they would be reporting something else. _Perfect, guys_ she thought. The story Mindy told her earlier in the day playing in her head.

" _This doesn't leave this room," Mindy said, and Roberta and Annie nodded. "The answer is yes." Mindy grinned._

 _Roberta let go her gusty laugh, and Annie said, "Oh, Christ."_

 _Mindy giggled. "When I kicked her out of the bedroom door she landed on my coffee table. Smashed the shit out of it. Then the stupid bitch decided to talk. She says to me 'you'll never keep him, you ugly little whore'." Annie raised an eyebrow at the incendiary anger on Mindy's face. "That's when I broke her nose and jaw and knocked her out."_

 _Roberta hadn't stopped chuckling. "Where was Mark?" she asked._

" _He had just made it up and to the bedroom door." Mindy laughed for several seconds. "I keep a cricket bat that I got on my graduation trip to England behind the nightstand. Mark was standing in the doorway naked with the bat in one hand and…"_

" _And?" Annie asked._

 _Mindy's smile would have made a lesser woman blush. "Well I guess watching me kick what's her fucks ass was as stimulating for him as it was for me. He was… obviously ready._

 _Roberta laughed so hard tears sprung from her eyes._

" _We tied her up with some zip ties I keep in the kitchen, and then I sort of jumped him on the couch. We actually didn't know she had come to until we…um…"_

" _Came too?" Roberta said, and she nearly fell out of her chair._

"Thank you for assembling on such short notice," Annie told the press room as Mindy and Mark exited. "Mindy has sat images coming down in fifteen minutes, and Mark has a class to teach in half an hour, so they're on their way back to work. We'll obviously have more conferences as this plays out, but Mark and Mindy request that you respect their privacy, so I'd ask you to not try and hunt them down for questions outside of this room. Thanks again, and good afternoon.

(*)

Teddy sat the briefing folder on the table. Annie had played the whole incident to NASA's benefit, and he was considering a substantial raise in the Media Director's salary. She'd been killing it for almost two years. In the three weeks since the break-in at Park's apartment the merchandise site had been inundated. They couldn't keep the sleepwear in stock, and the supplies in the gift shop were gone in a day, mostly purchased by employees. This had led to a stroke of genius on the part of the Media Director.

"How'd you talk them into this, Annie?' he asked as she sat at the conference table.

"I can be a silver tonged devil," Annie said. "When it's useful."

Teddy looked at her sideways. "NASA has never done a funding campaign like this, you think it'll actually work?"

"If it buys the clothing for colonists and crew of the Kore we'll be millions ahead," she said.

The door to the conference room opened. Mark, Mindy, Venkat, Taylor Cuevas director of merchandise, and Luna Chambers the logistics director for the Hestia mission entered.

"Thanks for coming, Mark, Mindy," Annie said. "We thought you'd like to see the finished spot."

"Hey, it was fun," Mark said with a grin. "We got to be movie stars for a day."

Mindy nudged him with her hip. "You were certainly enamored of the craft services table," she said.

"It was great!" he replied, and turned to the others in the room as they sat. "Cara, the woman running craft service for the production division, she had an awesome spread for us."

Mindy smiled and hugged his arm from her chair. "He's still making up for eight months of nothing but potatoes."

Annie shook her head at the stupid grins everyone in the room was wearing. Mark and Mindy were adorable, and she intended to make the most of it. "If you two are finished sending us into diabetic shock, we've got a spot to critique," she said.

"Ready when you are," Mark said with a smile.

Annie rolled her eyes and pressed the button on the room remote that lowered the blinds and dimmed the lights. A second button opened the sliding doors that hid the huge flat screen monitor at one end of the room. She brought up the media file on her computer and linked it to the monitor.

"Alright this is the long form spot, sixty seconds," she said and pressed the space bar.

The screen faded to a white room, a close up shot of Marks face on one side of the screen, and the side of a large blue punching bag on the other. "In space you need to be comfortable," Mark's voice over said. Mindy's arm crossed the frame in a flash, obscuring him, and her fist impacted the bag with a powerful thud. The scene cut to a head to toe full two shot with the 'NASA blue' punching bag hanging between them. Mindy, in the Dwit Bal Sogui tiger stance, was wearing the Ares sleep set, Mark was in the matching shorts.

The voice over continued. "At NASA we've put a lot of thought into this," Mark's voice said as Mindy made the bag sway with a series of heavy punches. "The team that chose the fabrics and styles studied human anatomy and movement in a way only NASA can." Mindy executed another series of kicks and punches. The on-screen Mark leaned against a white pole, crossed his arms, raised an eyebrow, and smirked.

"This sleep wear was one result," The voice over continued. "I can vouch for its durability, two sets saw me through a year and a half on Mars." Mindy punched the bag hard, and then she did a series of elbow, shin, and knee strikes. The scene cut to a full frame of Marks smiling face. "And it's the first choice for B.A.G.s worldwide," his voice said.

B.A.G. had become an almost instantly adopted slang term after Mark had used it to describe Mindy, and there were even hastily made bootleg t-shirts with her picture and the words "Bad Ass Girlfriend" emblazoned across the top. Mindy's mom had several. Mark had even bought Mindy one, but she only wore it around the house, and typically with no other clothing.

The screen cut back to the two shot. Mindy was making the bag shake violently with an unending string of punches, kicks, and knee and elbow strikes.

Marks voice continued. "NASA is making our full line of space ready clothing available for purchase from the web site and gift shops at all NASA locations. They cost a bit more, but they are American made, scientifically designed for maximum comfort and durability, and all the proceeds will be used to clothe the colonists and crew of the Hestia mission portion of the Mars Colonization Project."

The screen cut to a wide shot of the entire white room. Mark stood leaning against the post, and Mindy was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly Mindy cartwheeled into the frame, did a back flip, and performed a flying drop kick on the bag. The scene cut to a close up of the bag chains as they shattered in slow motion, and then it cut to another slow motion shot of the bag slamming against the wall and exploding in a spray of sawdust and straw. The scene faded to black and Mark's voice matched the words on the screen. "Support Space exploration, shop NASA at the spaceshop dot com," he said.

"Took fifteen tries at that last shot," Mindy said in the dark. "I'm not that great of a gymnast."

"Bruce had way to much fun with the air cannon at JPL," Mark said with a laugh. "They set up all their analysis cams and shot the bag out of the cannon at a hundred fifty meters a second."

"How'd they do the chains?" Teddy asked with a smile in his voice.

"They just froze them with liquid nitrogen," Mindy answered. "I only had to kick it once for that."

"Don't ever piss her off," Teddy said to Mark, and everyone chuckled.

"Alright, here's the thirty second version," Annie said, and she played an abbreviated cut of the same material. When it faded she brought the lights up and caught her two principal actors in mid snog. "Really!" she said laughing. "Geeze, when's the wedding?" she asked jokingly."

"May twenty forth next year," Mark answered without a pause.

Mark and Mindy grinned madly at the shocked faces staring back at them. Mindy pulled a chain from her shirt with a ring dangling from it. "We were waiting to announce until the family knew," she said, smiling at the communications director. "You can schedule a press conference whenever you want, Annie."


	5. Chapter 5 Yoga

Hatha

"Damn, Min. You're so wet and slippery I don't think I can hold out much longer."

"Come on, Mark, we're there, just keep it up for a few more."

"You'll be the death of me, woman."

Mindy arced her back and moaned in ecstasy as Mark pushed up with his legs. She was naked and balanced on Mark's feet in the center of her back as he held her hands. She let go of his left hand and raised her right leg straight above them. Then she laid her left pam on her right knee.

"Hold, breath, breath, yes," She said. "Okay, let me down."

Mark brought his knees to his chest and Mindy's feet touched the floor. He let go of her hand and pushed her up-right. They were both sweating profusely. Mindy wiped her face with a towel and handed it to an equally naked Mark. "Chris and Beth still coming over for dinner tonight?" She asked.

"Far as I know," Mark told her as he wiped his face and rolled onto his stomach. He planted his feet and hands, and then put his butt in the air. Mandy chuckled at the view, and then laid on top of him, placing her hands on his forearms and her feet on the back of his shins. They closed their eyes, breathing together, becoming one. He raised his right leg, raising hers.

"Ekam," they said together, and held the pose for several breaths.

"Dve," they said, and Mark raised his left arm, balancing them on his left leg and right arm.

"Trini." Mark lowered his right leg and left arm.

"Catvari." He raised his left leg.

"Panca." His right arm came up.

"Sat." they were on all fours again.

Mindy enjoyed the full contact of her body along Mark's back before she stood. "Okay, big boy. My turn." She laid face down and Mark laid down head to foot on top of her. He put his toes on either side of her neck and grasped her ankles from behind. Then he did a push up, hovering above her.

"Alright, go for it," he said.

"Eeeeekaaam," She said as she pushed them both up off the ground. "Dve," came out slow and meditatively.

"Trini," They said together, eyes closed, breathing as one. "Catavari, panca, sat, sapta, astau, nava, dasa."

Mindy lowered them to the mat. Mark crawled off of her and laid next to her on the mat in their living room. He looked over at his fiancé. She was naked, sweaty, and flushed, her hair was a disheveled mess, and she had exactly zero makeup on. She was also the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

She chuckled. "I know where that look is leading," she said and kissed him.

He smiled. "Yeah, well, probably, but right now it's leading to the shower."

Mindy stroked her hand down his arm. "It's working."

"Yeah," Mark said. "When Chris suggested this Yoga thing as a way to recover from all that time in low G I was a bit skeptical."

"I know."

He smiled at her. "It's one of my favorite things now. There's something about the skin to skin contact, doing this together, I don't know, I just feel so connected to you after."

She laughed. "Well, we usually are connected after."

"Ha, ha, ho, ho," he said, grinning.

"It's true."

"Yeah, but you know what I mean."

She looked into his eyes and saw the boundless love she had for him reflected in his own expression. "I do, I really do," she said.

He kissed her. "Just remember that phrase."


	6. Chapter 6 Protection

Protection

"What do you need, Annie?" Mindy asked.

"Holcombe escaped from the work crew she was on," Annie said as Mark and Mindy entered her office.

"Is that so," Mindy snarled.

Mark closed his eyes, chuckled silently, and shook his head. "If she wants another ass kicking all she has to do is show up for it. I'm sure Min will oblige."

"Happily," Mindy said, and Annie frowned at her expression.

"While I'm sure a rematch is just fine with you, I'd prefer that didn't happen," Annie said. "You fucked her up, Mindy."

"She was fucked up to begin with," Mindy said scathingly.

Annie nodded, "Yeah, but at least she could talk right and breath through her nose," Annie shook her head. "Seriously, Mindy, her face looks like she was run over by a truck."

Mark chuckled. "The B.A.G. truck."

Mindy smirked and looked sideways at her fiancé. "Well she's lucky that knife she had with her never came out. I'd have shoved that up her ass."

"No doubt," Annie said, and Mark nodded.

"Your personal skills aside, I'd prefer you stay undercover for a while," Annie said.

Mindy shook her head. "Not happening, "she said. "I've got fittings for the dress, caterer screening, and venues to look at. The wedding is six months out, you know how fast that time goes."

"Annie," Mark said, and she turned to him. "Listen, we're mostly here at the Space center or at home, our section of Sugar Lakes is gated and guarded, and I'd like to see her try to swim in from the back. I chased our ten footer off the pool deck again day before yesterday."

"You had a ten foot alligator in your back yard?"

Mark laughed. "We've named him Ralph," he said, and Mindy chuckled. "He shows up about every three days or so to bask. We were a bit freaked out initially, but the gator removal guy showed us how to deal with him."

"He actually comes like a dog to Mark now," Mindy said with a shake of the head. "We call him down to the shore, feed him a chicken, and shoo him back in the lake with a broom."

"Are you two afraid of anything?" Annie said with a shake of the head. "Well, Holcombe is marginally smarter than an alligator, so be aware, and I'd like Mindy in particular to never go anywhere alone."

"That I can do," Mindy said.

"Good," Annie said and smiled. "In addition to being two of NASA's prized assets you're two of my favorite people, so don't fuck around. This crazy fucking bitch is dangerous."

"So am I," Mindy growled

(*)

"Number seven scarpered from her chain gang, did she?"

"Sadly zey do not 'ave chain gangs 'ere. She just walked away."

"She should never have got close enough to them for Park to have to deal with it. We bolloxed that one up, Jan."

"She will try again, 'Annah, you know zat."

"Yes she will, and this time we'll be there."

"Oui."

(*)

Christopher Beck set his wine glass on the table and looked at his wife next to him, Beth smiled back. "Well, Lewis married us, but we were on the Hermes. She was captain of a ship in 'international waters'," he said, making the air quotes. "As you so astutely pointed out, Mark. Don't know if she could legally do it here on Terra Firma."

Beth Beck, who had debated keeping her maiden name for a while just because of the alliterative nature of her married name, chuckled. "They'll make any arrangement for us we ask for, get real, Chris."

Mark looked at his two friends and his fiancé as they chatted and enjoyed his cooking. He was momentarily overcome with pure joy. _People don't get how important this is,_ he thought. _Until you're absolutely alone you don't get it, how much you need people. Just this, just having a mundane conversation about a wedding over dinner is more important than goals or planning or profit. Anything. This is what being human is._

"Earth to Watney," Beth asked with a giggle. "You in there?'

He nodded. "Just lost in thought for a moment."

She smiled, she knew. "If you want Lewis to do it, it'll happen," she said.

"I'd like that." He turned to Mindy. "You fine with Commander Lewis officiating?"

Mindy kissed Mark's cheek. "As long as I'm Mrs. Watney at the end of the day I don't give a shit," she said, and they all laughed.

"Annie still pressuring you to move to a bigger place?" Beth asked Mindy.

Mindy smiled and chuckled silently. "The U.H. Chapple holds two seventy five, and we're only using a hundred fifty. She's getting a hundred and twenty five. If that's not enough, too bad."

"Should be plenty," Chris said.

Mindy shook her head. "Most of the heads of state from all over the world have asked to attend, we even got an invite request from King William. He, Kate, and the crown princes and princesses are huge fans."

"You gonna do it?" Beth asked.

Mindy smiled at her and nodded. "Uh, yeah."

"We're probably going to release some more seats to Annie here in a week or so." Mark said. "My family and friends only get to fifty one, including the crew and the Vogel and Martinez hordes, and even with Min inviting most of control we're only up to a hundred and twenty."

"That should make her happy," Chris said.

"You don't spend a lot of time with Annie, do you?" Mindy asked with a laugh.

(*)

Mindy's mother opened the door of the dress shop and Mindy followed her in. Clara, her maid of honor and best friend from childhood closed the door behind them. It was the oldest and most prestigious wedding shop in Houston. They had come to Mindy two days after the announcement, offering any dress in the store _. I could get used to this celebrity thing_ she had thought at the time. That time had passed.

Every face in the store turned to her.

"Hello everyone," Mindy's mother said in a loud voice. "We're doing the final fitting today, so if you want to see it, that's fine, but there will be NO PICTURES! Is the mother of the bride understood?"

The smiling faces in the store laughed and Mindy heard a chorus of yeses.

Clara followed Mindy into the back of the store where the fitting rooms were, and they were met by Elsa, a young blond woman who was Mindy's assigned seamstress. "It's on the hook," Elsa said and pointed to a fitting room. Clara and Mindy went in and closed the door.

Fifteen minutes later Mindy emerged in a custom Pronovias Pladie wedding dress. The dress had the same style and cut as the standard Pladie model of the dress, trumpet cut, dip neck satin, with a lace sleeveless bodice, but the lace that covered the dress was entirely custom and hand made. Stars, planets, galaxies and nebula were all worked into the incredibly elaborate design, and the Hermes cruised across the court length train. The entire room gasped as she walked into the gallery area with the full length mirrors, and Mindy liked what she saw in those mirrors.

The woman in the mirror was stunning. The makeup Clara had applied had made her plain face stylish, the constant exercise she and Mark engaged in had toned her body, and sheer happiness made her glow with an inner light. Her hair was up in a carefully crafted half updo, and a silk flower crown held the veil in place. Her mother was barely hanging on, unshed tears shimmering in her eyes.

"It'll do," Mindy said smiling.

(*)

"We'll have it at the Chapple by seven am, Miss Park," Elsa said. "I'm delivering it personally."

"You have your credential from Annie Montrose?" Mindy asked. "You won't get within half a mile of the place without it."

Elsa nodded her head and pulled the plastic laminated card on a lanyard around her neck from her jacket. "I kinda don't take it off." She rolled her eyes. "Little paranoid."

Mindy chuckled and handed her a card. "My cel number, you run into any trouble on game day, call. Mom will pick up."

"Thanks, Miss Park," Elsa said grinning from ear to ear.

"Mindy."

"Thanks, Mindy."

Mindy took her hand. "See you next Tuesday, Elsa." She turned to her best friend and her mother. "Ready, I'm hungry."

"You didn't have breakfast," her mother admonished as they left the shop.

Mindy laughed, and said, "Wanted the dress to look good."

Mindy's mother stopped and hugged her in the stoop of the shop. "It's so beautiful. Mark won't know what hit him."

Mindy hugged her mother and then froze. Maryanne Holcombe was walking diagonally across the street toward them. "Get back in the shop," Mindy said through gritted teeth, and then turned and shoved her mother and best friend through the door. "Stay!"

Mindy spun, trotted down the three steps to the side walk, and started toward Holcombe. "Wanna dance again, bitch? I'm ready," she shouted.

Maryanne Holcombe drew a gun from her purse. Mindy had just enough time to register that the woman had a gun in her hand before a strong arm pulled her into the door way next to the dress shop. "I'm a friend," a feminine British voice said, as a bullet ricocheted off the bricks next to where Mindy had just been. Chaos erupted in the street. Screams and shouts were followed by panicked people running willy-nilly. On the sidewalk another woman had appeared out of nowhere behind Holcombe. She rammed a Taser into Mindy's assailant's back and pulled the trigger. Holcombe jittered and danced as the current coursed through her.

"Let her cook in it a little while, Jan," the woman in the doorway with Mindy yelled amid the confusion.

"Who are you guys?" Mindy said in wonder.

"Protection," the tall, muscular woman said. "This is all cocked up. You're not supposed to know we're here."

"Really, NASA ponied up the money for security?" Mindy said in slight wonder.

"No," the woman said. "Mark has a fan base that includes some very… powerful people, people whose activities are generally frowned on by the authorities, and they are quite interested in his continued happiness." She chuckled, but there was very little mirth in it. "They are very wealthy and unencumbered by legalities, so that means they can hire people like us, and we make sure you're alive and healthy."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. We missed this slag the first time round," the woman said. "That's not happening again."

White foam was sputtering from Holcombe's mouth as she still twitched and shuddered. "Not that I care, but are you just gonna just roast her?" Mindy asked chuckling.

The woman next to her shrugged. "Eh," she said. "Right, ease off, Janice."

Janice, the blonde woman with the Taser stuck in Holcombe's side, grunted and pulled the sizzling instrument from Holcombe's body. She crumpled to the ground and didn't move.

"She alive?" Mindy asked with mild curiosity.

Janice kicked the unfortunate woman in the side, eliciting a moan. "Oui. Time for us to leave, 'Annah" the French accented woman said, looking around at the gathering crowd and Mindy's mother rushing from the shop next door.

"I'm Hannah, and this is Janice," Mindy's new friend said. "To the police we were just two concerned citizens, got it?"

Mindy smiled and nodded. She watched as Hannah and Janice melted into the crowd and vanished. Then her mother collided with her.


	7. Chapter 7 Fury

Fury

They were so angry with her. All of them, and they were right to be. She had charged at Holcombe without thinking. He Si Fu would be pissed, but that was the least of it. Clara would forgive her as she always did, her mother had been mad at her before, that she could handle, and Annie would come down from her flaming profanity after she accepted Mindy was unharmed, but Mark, she had never made Mark this angry.

"What he FUCK! Were you thinking?" he had shouted. It rang in her mind, over and over.

In truth, she hadn't been. A red fog had clouded her vision, and Mindy had gone a little crazy for a moment. As she stepped onto the side walk in front of the dress shop her only thought had been that Holcombe was going to regret being born. In the last twenty minutes, as she sat on the bed and cried, she had searched herself for why she had acted so rashly, for what had triggered such a break from her normal analytical self.

She knew now. She just had to screw up her courage and go down and tell Mark.

Journal entry March 16

Well, that was… yeah.

Mindy scared the living fuck out of me today. I can't even relate what she did because I'll start shaking. At least we don't have to worry about that bitch, Holcombe anymore. Min's mom is out by the pool with the largest glass of wine I could give her, and Clara went to take a nap. Teddy, the whole crew, Mom, and Annie all called to make sure Mindy was okay. She is, ish.

I yelled at her. I made her cry. I 'm a turd.

" _You're not fucking Supergirl!"_ that was the least of what I said.

Once she understood what she did, she told us she was sorry, but I was so scared. I kind of lost it for a few. We all did.

" _What? Are you believing your own damn press_?" I'm an asshole.

She ran upstairs to the bedroom a while ago, I guess it's time to go apologize. Wait, she's coming down.

As Mindy stepped off the bottom stair Mark emerged from the office. They stared at each other with lost expressions for a few seconds before crashing together in a weeping mess.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," they both kept repeating.

Clara entered the kitchen to find Mindy's mother, Deborah sitting on a breakfast stool, smiling. Deborah put a finger to her lips and nodded toward the living room service doors.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you, Min," Mark said fiercely. "I was a complete fucking asshole."

"No, you were right to," She said. "I was… I was stupid, and I'm not stupid often."

"First time I've seen it," Mark said nonchalantly, and she couldn't help a small grin.

She looked into infinity for a moment. "Honesty," She said, and looked Mark in the eyes. "I saw her walking toward us and I just… I just checked out. I was _SO_ furious with her. She represents everything that I'm terrified of."

He looked puzzeled. "What are _you_ scared of?"

She looked at him, and for only the second time he saw what Mindy looked like when she was truly scared. "Losing you."

His expression became hard and serious. "Never," he said in low growl. "Minerva Pomona Park, I will love you and cherish you my whole life." The right side of his face made his lop sided grin. "And after hearing your mother yell it, I get the Mindy."

In the kitchen Deborah laughed silently, and met eyes with a smiling Clara.

Mindy smiled a little. "That was Clara. First graders have a little trouble with Minerva. Clara came to my rescue with Mindy the second day. She's been my best friend since. She'd have been top of the class if I hadn't. So we were the smart, pretty, blonde girl and her brainy friend with the glasses all through school."

Clara dabbed her eyes.

Mindy looked back in Mark's eyes. "The thing is, sometimes I don't think I deserve you. Sometimes…"

Mark chuckled once.

"Really, Mark. There are hundreds of beautiful, successful, rich women that would love to have you," she said.

"And one genius engineer I want," he finished. "I worry about the same thing," He said.

"Yeah," she said sarcastically.

"The press, the public, the stalkers!" he said, "I have significant downsides."

Mindy shrugged. "None of that scares me."

"Obviously," He said with a smirk.

"Sorry," she said and blushed.

"I think we just had our first serious disagreement," Mark said.

"More like I fucked up and you forgave me."

"I fucked up too."

"I love you" they said in unison, and then smiled. The kitchen door closed loudly, and they went to investigate. When they entered the kitchen they found a plate with Oreos, a glass of ice and Dr. Pepper, and a note.

"Dr. Pepper and Oreos?" Mark asked.

Mindy smiled fondly. "It's a mom and me thing." She picked up the note.

 _Well done,_

 _Clara and I are going out for coffee and shopping, we should be gone at least three hours. That should be plenty of time for… apologies._

 _We love you both,_

 _Mom._


	8. Chapter 8 Vows

Vows

"Welcome back to a special edition of the Today Show on NBC, streaming worldwide on NBC dot com, I'm Stefani Germanotta," The woman formerly known as Lady Gaga said. "As we have reported all morning, this is the day NASA and the city of Houston have been looking forward to since Mark and Mindy announced they were getting married. The preparations are done, the chapel is ready, and an air of happiness can be felt throughout the city. The guests have been arriving for the last few days as the attention of the world has fallen on Houston."

"And dissolve server one video," the director called.

The image NBC was broadcasting faded from Miss Germanotta to a shot of a man and his family descending an airplane stairway. "The British Royal family arrived yesterday morning alongside all the Prime ministers of the British Commonwealth of Nations for a private dinner with the bride and groom," her voice said. "Both Mindy Park and Mark Watney were on hand yesterday afternoon to personally welcome the representatives of the CNSA as they disembarked their flight from Beijing." The screen showed Mark and Mindy shaking hands with the director and media director of the CNSA amid a blinding storm of flashes. "And a who's who of dignitaries and stars have descended on the city."

"Take server two audio video."

The scene changed to a series of clips of various international celebrities arriving at the Houston airport.

"Bring up remote one mic and cue."

"The most highly coveted item in Houston today is this credential." Stefani Germanotta said

"And take remote one," The director called.

The screen cut back to Miss Germanotta smiling broadly and holding up her security badge. The laminated three by five card had the invitation picture of Mark and Mindy with the date emblazoned across the bottom. Miss Germanotta's said 'Ceremony and Reception' above the date. "Every card has an identity of its own, a QR scan code and a small RFID chip is embedded in each card ensure it," she said. "And on the back it has a picture of the person it belongs to."

"Starting at three miles out from the venue security checkpoints have been set up. The mayor of Houston has declared this a city holiday so that the security forces usually assigned to courts and other city services could be utilized for the wedding."

"Roll sever two, take," the director said, and screens across the world showed the people of Houston and their guests politely and with smiling faces negotiating the road blocks and security check points surrounding the U.H. chapel.

"At one half mile from the chapel only credentials with 'ceremony' on them are allowed beyond the check points," her voice continued.

(*)

"Well done, Annie," Teddy said as he watched the report on the monitor in the lobby. "How are the bride and groom this morning?"

"They're good," Annie said with a smile. "Mindy's got her mother, Roberta, and Clara, her best friend, upstairs working her over as we speak. Mark is with the Becks, and the rest of the crew but Lewis out back in the staging tent. Adel is in dressing room two warming up, and Cameron Carpenter is down in the chapel checking out the organ."

"How's Lewis?"

Annie smirked. "As Roberta likes to say, 'couldn't met butter on her forehead'," she said and laughed. "Cool in a crisis doesn't begin to describe her. She's in the rector's office with him reviewing her lines."

"Looks like we're a go," Teddy said with a smile.

(*)

 _Okay, okay, okay. Survived a hole in my suit and me in a near vacuum, blown up airlock, dust storms, rolled rover, 12 G launch, I can do this. I can do this._

 _Beth has been running messages back and forth all morning between here and mission control (that's what we're calling the bridal dressing room). Min is in great hands._

 _Chris has the rings, I know 'cause I've asked him a dozen times. He's holding up well, the only thing he's worried about is the toast, and that's a couple of hours away. Right now he's yucking it up with the other two male crew members. Rick and Alex are the old hands at this, they've been married their whole lives. Chris and I? Well, we're learning._

 _The two old hands are trying (with limited success) to calm our intrepid hero. He's pretty tense. He's worried that he'll draw a total blank when it comes to what he wants to say, he's worried he'll drop the ring, he's worried that the earth will swallow him just when he's caught the prize._

 _The prize._

 _She sure is._

 _I can't help the stupid grin I get when I think of her today. She's brilliant, way smarter than me. She's compassionate and kind. She's beautiful (to me, I know she doesn't think so, but I do). She's brave (braver than I'd like really), and she loves me. Me, the dorky botanist. This brilliant thoughtful, astonishing woman loves me._

 _I'm staring out the window with that stupid grin again._

(*)

"Welcome," Commander Lewis said from behind the podium to the privileged two hundred and seventy five. "As Mark would tell you, I'm a woman of few words, so here are a few. "Ladies and gentlemen, Cameron Carpenter."

The world renowned organist began, Mars, Bringer of War, by Holst. As Mr. Carpenter gave a spirited interpretation of the great piece, Chris Beck led Mrs. Watney to her seat in the very front on her son's side. Right behind him Rick Martinez led Deborah Park to her seat exactly opposite the aisle from Mrs. Watney. The two women's husbands followed their escorts and sat beside their wives. Then Mark appeared at the rear of the chapel.

Mark walked slowly up the aisle and joined Chris and Rick. Commander Lewis winked slyly as he mounted the altar platform and turned to face the gathering of friends and dignitaries. Chris stood next to him and then Rick stood next to Chris.

Carpenter finished the Holst piece, and then he began the introduction to a new song by the iconic singer, Adel. She walked from a side door to the platform, took the microphone that Commander Lewis handed her, and began to sing. It was a ballad she had written about Mark and Mindy. Though she never said their names, or mentioned Mars or NASA, or indicated that they were the couple she sung about, they were, and the whole world knew.

I watched you

I watched you struggle and suffer,

I watched you and I couldn't help.

I watched you fight to live

and I cheered when you won

I watched you.

We were made to be.

Nothing can keep you from me.

Though you are far away,

when you come home

I know you'll say.

"I love you, and I always will.

My travels are through,

and my feet are still.

My place is here

Forever by the fire with you."

I watched you

When you walked on different lands,

I watched you

your courage shining in the night.

I watched you build your ship

piece by piece in the blazing sun.

I watched you

return to me.

Mindy was standing in the doorway as Adel finished. The singer smiled and winked at the bride as she strode down the steps of the platform and took her seat. Carpenter played the grand prelude to the Wedding March, and the entire audience stood and turned. There was a mutual gasp.

Mindy smiled.

For second time in her life she actually felt beautiful. The first time had been when Mark presented her the ring. Three days after Easter he had taken her to Irma's, their favorite restaurant, and there, in a quiet booth with no witnesses, he had made her feel like the most beautiful girl on the earth. She was feeling that way again, because sixty feet down the aisle he was looking at her with the same awestruck, love filled, expression.

 _Holy crap! She's gorgeous! I knew that, though. Now everybody does, and that dress, wow!_

All the pent up tension flowed out of her, and a tear of happiness traced her cheek. The whole world was watching, and it made no difference at all, because it was really just them. He was here, waiting patiently at the end of a short walk, and he would take her hand and her heart, and she would take his name.

"Get moving, Min," Clara whispered behind her, and Mindy, followed by Clara and then Beth, began her slow walk to her father standing at the end of the row of pews.

"Damn, Mark, she cleans up real nice," Rick said just loud enough for the front row to hear. The whole group at the front of the church giggled.

Mindy came to a stop next to her father. "Who gives this woman to be wed?" Commander Lewis asked.

"I do, happily," Mindy's father said. He led her up the short steps and placed her hand in Mark's. "She's your problem now, son," he said with a smile, and the audience laughed.

Mindy handed her bouquet to Clara and turned to Mark. They just stood there, taking each other in, saving the memory. Then Commander Lewis said, "Please be seated."

Dressed in her full navel uniform Melissa Lewis was, as always, an imposing figure. "Mark and Mindy have asked us to be here to help them celebrate their love," she said. "I'm sure they would have preferred a smaller, more intimate affair, but the world had other plans."

A ripple of laughter ran through the audience.

"And so we welcome those fortunate among us that are here in person, and those around the world who are here spirit, watching." She smiled at Mark. "Two years ago and twenty minutes from now Dr. Christopher Beck, Mark's best man and my friend and crewmate, pulled Mark from the M.A.V. and back into all our lives." She smiled at Mindy. "One life in particular."

She looked back up. "Mindy, as you have read, was the person that discovered Mark was still alive. I reviewed every report she made while we were on the way back to Mars, from the first time she discovered he was there, to the last analysis of the modifications to the M.A.V. Mindy, as Mark says over and over, was his guardian angel. From the moment she discovered him alive at the Hab, to the day Alex Vogel pulled Mark and Chris into the Hermes, Mindy watched and wrote."

Commander Lewis looked down at Mindy's parents. "And in reading those reports and observations, I read a woman falling in love with the man on the screen. She researched Mark, learning how he thought so that she could better understand what she was seeing. As she learned more about him, I could read her becoming more concerned about his feelings, his mood, his soul."

She turned to Marks parents. "Mark was a beaten up mess two years ago. After we got him aboard and scrubbed the stench of a year and a half of Mars off him." She paused and reflected. "Not the greatest assignment I ever gave Chris and Rick," she said, and the crowd in the chapel sniggered. "Well, after that he made it his mission to thank everyone involved in getting him off Mars, and that led him to Mindy. They emailed constantly during the nine months it took us to get back to Earth."

"Everyone knows what happened next," She said with a smile. "The good, the bad, the bad ass."

The audience genuinely laughed.

"And all of that has brought us here." Commander Lewis looked at Mark. "Love remains a mystery, apart from science, but it is as real as anything you can touch or see, and that is because you can hold love. This ethereal thing can be held, and you can hold not just your own love, but that of your partner. This isn't news to Mark, I'm sure. You and Mindy have held each other's love for a year at least, but from this day on you will be official custodians of the others heart."

Sniffles sounded throughout the chapel.

"Traditionally there is a reading at this point. Some choose the Bible, some choose the Koran, and some choose Keats or Shakespeare. I did some editing and chose Watney and Park from two years ago today."

Mindy and Mark looked at her with surprise. They had picked one of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Commander Lewis smirked and looked down at her notes.

"I still can't quite believe that this is really it. I'm really leaving. This frigid desert has been my home for a year and a half. I figured out how to survive, at least for a while, and I got used to how things worked. My terrifying struggle to stay alive became somehow routine. Get up in the morning, eat breakfast, tend my crops, fix broken stuff, eat lunch, answer e-mail, watch TV, eat dinner, go to bed. The life of a modern farmer.

Then I was a trucker, doing a long haul across the world. And finally, a construction worker, rebuilding a ship in ways no one ever considered before this. I've done a little of everything here, because I'm the only one around to do it.

That's all over now. I have no more jobs to do, and no more nature to defeat. I've had my last Martian potato. I've slept in the rover for the last time. I've left my last footprints in the dusty red sand. I'm leaving Mars today, one way or another."

She looked out at the crowd. "Mindy's from that day is much more succinct," she said and looked at Mindy. "Please, God, let him be safe."

Half the church was sobbing, and Commander Lewis let them collect themselves. Mark pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his soon to be wife's eyes.

"Well, here he is, Mindy," Commander Lewis said with a smile for her, and Mindy hugged Mark's arm. "Mark and Mindy have words they have chosen to say. Mindy?"

She turned and faced Mark. "Four years ago I first heard the name Mark Watney," she said. "In control we all learned about each member of the crew we would be serving. The sterling commander, the brilliant software engineer, the cool and collected doctor, the fearless pilot, the intense chemist, and the comedian botanist."

A round of chuckles ran through the audience.

"Up until sol six we were having a great time, and then we weren't. Forty four days later I was sent the most important email of my life. Twenty minutes after that I was frantically calling Mitch and Ven." She took a shaky breath, the memories more of a source of nerves than the situation. "From that moment until your rescue I was on Martian time with you, watching you, willing you to survive. You scared me, so many times, but you also made me proud to be human and be a part of NASA. Then these people," she looked at Chris, Commander Lewis, Beth, Alex, and Rick. "These five brave friends saved you for me. I can't thank them enough." She smiled at them. "And they'll tell you I've tried."

The Becks, the Vogles and the Martinezs chuckled.

"Then you appeared out of nowhere in front of my station in control. It was the best, and last, first date of my life. I had been infatuated with you, I fell in love with you, the real you, and the longer we are together, the more in love with you I am. You are the keeper of my heart, you are the one man that has ever helped me be a whole person. I'm my best when I'm with you, and I intend to be at your side for the rest of our lives. I love you, Mark, and I'm so happy to become your wife."

Lewis gave the attendees a moment to collect themselves. The mothers of the couple were crying softly, their husbands comforting them.

"Mark?"

He took Mindy's hand. "I didn't know who Mindy Park was until two years ago today. I'm so happy I found out. I knew the world was watching me, but I also knew it was really just one person. Ven had said 'she checks every image' in one of his emails, and I imagined a guardian angel sitting at her computer watching over me. I never realized how real that was until we were out bound from Mars.

On that journey we became friends. I wanted to know you. I wanted to know the woman that saved me, and the more I found out about you and what you did for me, the more we talked, the more I wanted to meet you and get to know you in person. Then I did, and I've been the happiest I've ever been since. You are my reason for… everything, Min. I want to do amazing things with you," he shrugged. "Maybe not the best way to put that," he commented, and the audience sniggered. "I want to someday make our moms grand moms, I want to grow old with you, I want to be married to you in every way. I love you, Mindy. Thank you for saving me, Min, over and over."

Lewis gave the audience time to collect themselves. "This is the easy part," she said. "Do you, Mark Watney, take this woman, Mindy Park to be your wife? To keep her comfort foremost in your mind, to cherish her love, and to be her friend?"

Mark smiled and looked into Mindy's eyes. "I do."

"And do you, Mindy Park, take this man, Mark Watney. To be your husband? To be his friend, to keep his love safe in your heart, and his comfort foremost in your mind?

"I do," she said in such an earnest voice that recordings of it became ring tones worldwide.

"Now we come to the rings," She said and grinned. "Mark thought Chris here would have them, but the talented folks at JPL had other ideas."

The door to the chapel opened and the full scale mockup of the latest Mars rover, Investigator, rolled down the aisle. It stopped in front of the wedding party, its sample scoop extended, and it raised the sampling arm up to Mark's waist height. The scoop cover retracted, and the rings sat inside it on a small NASA packing pillow. Mark laughed and pulled Mindy's ring from the scoop. Mindy grabbed Mark's, and the rover made a series of squeaks and beeps. Then the camera head swiveled one hundred eighty degrees, the arm retracted, and the rover drove back down the aisle and out of the door.

Lewis chuckled. "The ring has a long tradition," she said. It is a symbol of love eternal, and a promise made real. With these rings that Mark and Mindy have chosen gift one and other with, they give their love, one to the other, in a real and physical form. Mark?"

He took Mindy's hand and smiled at her. "Min, I give you this ring as symbol of the promise I make today. I will love you and care for you my whole life. With this ring I thee wed." he slid the ring carefully on her finger.

She calmly took his hand and said, "Mark, I give you this ring as symbol of the promise I make today. I will love you and be there for you, where ever 'there' is, my whole life. With this ring I thee wed."

Commander Lewis smiled out at the audience and the world. "As Mark and Mindy have exchanged vows and rings, and have made their promise, so we are bound to witness their union. Mark, Mindy, I now pronounce you husband and wife." She grinned wickedly. "Kiss the girl, Watney."

Quote taken from the Martian, chapter twenty five.


	9. Chapter 9 Prank

Prank

"Mrs. Watney," Mark said, handing Mindy a flute of champagne.

"Mr. Watney," she said smiling as she took it.

"Cool party," Mark said as they look out across the dance floor of the Hyatt Regency's Imperial Ballroom.

"Yeah," she said. "Wonder who it's for?"

He laughed and kissed her. "Probably somebody cool, way cooler than us."

She nodded and finished her champagne. "Well, we should take the opportunity and dance then, hmm?"

"Absolutely, Mrs. Watney," he said, and swept her out onto the dance floor.

The King and Queen of England smiled at Mark and Mindy as the danced by them. The royals went entirely unnoticed, and they laughed. The bride and groom were completely lost in each other. It didn't matter that there were twelve hundred of the most famous and influential people on the earth in the room, they were just background noise to the man in the tuxedo and the woman in the white lace and satin.

"You are so beautiful," Mark said with an expression of happiness and love on his face as they danced.

"I feel beautiful," Mindy said.

"You are, Min, so much," he said, and kissed her again.

"You know there's a bridal suite with your name on it upstairs, right," Mindy's maid of honor, Clara said as she danced up next to them.

Mindy scowled at her playfully as Mark greeted Clara's dance partner. "How're you doing, Rich?"

Looking slightly amazed at who he was dancing with, Rich Purnell replied, "Really good, Mark."

Mark chuckled as they danced away. "Well, Clara seems to be recovering," he observed.

"She divorced that piece of shit two years ago, it's about time," Mindy said.

"Rich in for a good night?"

Mindy snickered. "Oh yeah." she looked thoughtful for a moment. "Clara has been asking me some pointed questions lately about dating outside her usual sphere of lawyers and doctors."

"She's a district attorney," Mark said. "Sort of corrals her into a certain social group."

"It does," Mindy said. "She hates it. Theo was another lawyer, and the worthless, ungrateful… asshole." She fumed for a moment. "Well, he's gone, and I hope he's enjoying being saddled with that bimbo and their brat. So, yeah Clara talked to me about some prospects that would be here tonight."

Marks eyebrows rose. "And you set her on Rich?"

Mindy's eyes twinkled and Mark laughed at her devious look. "He's so shy. I mean he's fine if there's no possibility of romance, but if there's an unattached woman in the room he turns into a door mouse. I told Clara she might have to work on that wall, but once she gets beyond it she'd find a really cool, if a bit socially inept, guy." She smiled as she watched her best friend dance across the room with the amazed astrodynamicist in tow. "Looks like she's done a good job."

"Um, Min, socially inept is understating it pretty dramatically, and I'm fairly sure Rich is a… inexperienced when it comes to women. If you know what I mean," Mark said.

"Yeah, I figured," Mindy said. "I told Clara I work in a building full of forty year old virgins." She grinned. "Don't worry, she'll help him negotiate the curves."

Mark looked out across the Ballroom. When it became apparent that Mindy's father was unprepared to fund the kind of event that Mindy and Mark's wedding was becoming, Annie sent a quiet call out among their more well-to-do fans. Several of them were more than willing to fund the entire affair, but Annie had talked them into a shared wedding fund that would cover the costs. All five of them were at the ceremony, and now at the reception, Elon Musk, chief among them. Both Mark and Mindy had been surprised when he had offered them high level positions within SpaceX at their first meeting. He had also been gracious and understanding when they told him they were very loyal to NASA.

Annie and Roberta appeared out of the throng on the dance floor and walked up to Mark and Mindy. Annie and her wife were the picture of haute couture. Annie's off the shoulder, knee length, light blue creation from Hong Kong was paired with Roberta's slinky and spangled black form fitting dress from Paris.

Mark took a moment to appreciate Annie's wife.

Roberta was as mixed as it got. Her mother was half African American and half Vietnamese, Her father half British, half Native American. She was also strikingly gorgeous. With wavy raven black hair framing a beautifully exotic face, and her caramel colored skin glowing in in the artificial light, Mark was well aware of what Annie saw in her wife. He smirked at the Media Director. The only time Mark thought he saw the real Annie Montrose was in the company of Roberta. Annie was smiling and laughing in a way she never did in her official capacity, and the gazes that she shared with Roberta were the same as the ones that Mark shared with his wife.

"Having fun, Annie?" he asked.

"I deserve it," she said confidently. "All that work paid off."

Mindy leaned in and hugged her. "Thank you so much," she said. "Clara, Mom, Marks Parents, they were all overwhelmed. Most of the wedding planners we talked to were terrified of taking this part of it on, so thanks, you did awesome."

Annie laughed. "It's amazing what a few well-placed phone calls and liberal use of your names accomplishes," she said. "The people at U.H. were initially not as receptive as they were when you and I met them and toured the chapel." She laid her hand on Mindy's shoulder. "Thanks for letting me have this event," she said as she looked around the Grand Ballroom. "I know doing two hours of handshakes and small talk in the reception line was a pain, but it'll pay off in huge ways."

"Always scheming, that wife o' mine," Roberta said.

"Mars colonization is going to have to be a planetary effort," Annie said. "With all these people on our side it'll be a lot easier to get the governments on board."

Roberta smiled at Annie lovingly. "She's telling all of them 'more money for space, less for guns and bombs'. Changin' the world, my Annie."

Mark smiled at Annie. "You see Teddy holding court with the President, the Chinese Premier, and the Russian President?"

Annie nodded. "I assigned them to him," she said. "He's getting them up to speed on the latest proposal for Ares Five."

"Two years," Mark said, looking into infinity. "Two years on the surface."

Mindy laid her hand on his arm. "You did it with no planning, no resources, and solo," she said with pride gleaming in her eyes.

"We're going back, Mark," Annie said fiercely. "We're going back to stay."

(*)

"Now 'Annah?"

"Yeah, I'll get them."

(*)

Sitting on Mark's lap as he nuzzled her neck Mindy was contemplating making their escape when she saw a woman wave at her from a curtained alcove down the wall from where they sat. She waved back and then froze. It was Hannah, her savior. Hannah winked and nodded her head toward the inside of the alcove, then she disappeared behind the curtain.

"Mark, wait!" she whispered.

He stopped kissing her neck and looked up. "Thought you liked where this was going."

She smiled coyly. "I do, but there's a friend I haven't introduced you too yet. Come on," she said, and pulled him to his feet as she stood.

She led him toward the alcove and when the band broke between songs and the crowd in the ballroom applauded she took her opportunity and slid behind the curtain, dragging Mark along.

"Don't look behind you," a voice whispered in their ears.

They heard a click and a few beeps. A hand appeared from behind them with an open makeup compact held in it. Hannah waved it up Marks body and it chimed and a green light shown in the mirror when she got to his cufflink on his right hand. Snickering, Hannah pulled it from his wrist and dropped it in a black bag. She finished scanning Mark and started on Mindy. A pin, two small fuzzy white patches of fluff, and a small white lace rose that was stuck to her dress went in the bag.

"I think that's all of them," Hannah said as she stepped around to face Mark and Mindy.

Mindy smiled and hugged her. "Mark, this is Hannah, the woman I told you about."

Mark smiled up at the tall, very pretty, powerfully built woman, and he shook her hand. "Good to meet you. What was all that about?"

Hannah chuckled. "Come on up and I'll show you." She said, and led them up a small service stair behind the hall to a darkened lighting booth that mirrored the one in use at the opposite end of the hall for the band. Janice sat on a stool waiting for them. She rose and shook their hands.

"Bonsoir, Mark, Mindy," she said. "Congratulations."

"A pleasure to officially meet you, Janice. You guys look great by the way. " Mindy said as she took her hand. "Thank you, you saved my life."

"Non, she would 'ave missed."

"And you were only twelve feet away," Hannah said. "She wouldn't have got a second shot off."

"You're more confident than I am about that," Mindy said skeptically.

"Our analysts reviewed the scene," Janice said. "Zey are confident you would 'ave prevailed."

Mark hugged Mindy to him. "Well thanks for not putting that to the test," he said. "And thanks for saving her."

"We were not saving Mindy," Janice said. "We were saving number seven."

Hannah laughed at their expressions. "We didn't want Mindy having blood on her hands," she said. "I was fairly convinced she'd kill the stupid numpty. Besides, we like seven as a living example of why not to fuck with the two of you."

Mark cocked his head to the side. "Who are you guys?" he asked, mystified.

Janice laughed. "As 'Annah told Mindy, we are your protection, provided by some very generous and wealtzy benefactors."

"They hired us while you were still in space," Hannah told Mark. "They knew some crazy person would wind up stalking you, so they formed a small enterprise to protect you. When Mindy entered the picture our mission expanded to encompass her."

"A small enterprise?" Mark asked.

""Our employers set up an endowment to fund us. Zat allows us to 'ave an office with some very talented people zat watch people watching you." Janice said. "When zey reach a certain level of obsession we monitor zem with personal surveillance. If zey present a direct threat we… intervene."

"Seven got by us," Hannah said. "She went from four to ten on our threat scale overnight." Hannah clenched her teeth. "You did very well, Mindy. We messed up, and you never should have had to take her on." She smiled. "That said, I'd like to spar with you some time, see what you've got."

Mark shook his head in amazement. "What was with all the stuff you pulled off us?" he asked.

Both women giggled. "Listening devices and trackers." Hannah said, looking at the packed hall below them. "There may be a who's who of celebrities and politicians in that room, but that's nothing compared to the cream of international espionage that are down there." She pointed to a man in a dark blue suit that was talking with the Dutch ambassador. "That is Jason Hempworth. He's the current version of James Bond in real life. Most accomplished agent MI5 has." She drew their attention to another man in a server's uniform. "That is Stanislav Itam, He's the Russian version. Over there is Ethan Thomas, the CIA's best man. It's amazing they haven't had a brawl yet. There's at least two more, I'm certain."

"Are we in any danger?" Mindy asked.

The two women laughed. "Non," Janice said. "You're as safe 'ere as you could be."

"No," Hannah said and took her hand. "We just wanted to congratulate you and run an idea past you."

"How'd you get a credential?" Mark asked, and then he shook his head. "Never mind, I can guess."

"What idea?" Mindy asked.

"We've never had an operation like this," Hannah said. "Protecting people is the exact opposite of what we usually do. When I had to expose us it was a major cock up, and that was two to many. I explained our plan to our employers, and they agree. We think it's best if we operate with you and Mark in the team. We can let you know if there's a threat, and you can let us know if you suspect anything."

"Sounds like a good idea," Mark said, and Mindy nodded.

"Très chouette, we will come to your 'ome in a few weeks to talk," Janice said, and then laughed. "After you return from Tahiti."

"How? Never mind," Mark said. "No secrets, huh."

"Not from us," Hannah said. "And speaking of that, let's have some fun."

(*)

Ethan Thomas was becoming concerned. He hadn't heard a peep out of Mark's bug in five minutes. The last time he had marked their position they had been sitting against the west wall making out. Mindy had mentioned an introduction and the signal had gone silent. He was nervously scanning the hall for the bride and groom, and he was getting progressively more agitated as continued to not find them.

Stanislav Itam absentmindedly handed a flute of champagne to a guest and wondered at how quickly Mark and Mindy had disappeared. The positioner still had them within the building but that was the limit of its resolution, the audio receiver in his ear hadn't made a sound in a concerning amount of time. He set down his tray and went to find them.

Jason Hempworth saw Ethan and Stan starting to panic. He understood why, they had bugs on the couple too, and silence was never good. Suddenly his earpiece came to life.

(*)

Hannah was having trouble keeping her laughter in as she opened the small black bag. "okay, go" she mouthed silently to Mark and Mindy.

"Mmm, here in the lighting both?" Mindy said in a low husky voice.

Mark growled lustily. "They're not using this one, and…What!"

"Ahh!" they both yelled and Hannah dropped the contents of the bag in her champagne.

Tears of mirth sparkled in Janice's eyes, and she pealed with laughter as she watched the reaction on the ballroom floor.

(*)

Five men nearly ran across the floor of the ballroom to the alcove access for the west end lighting booth. Struggling for position, they charged up the stairs and burst through the door into the booth. Mindy sat on Marks lap at the far end of the booth smiling at them, and they were flanked by two beautiful women.

"Hello boys," Hannah said in a fair imitation of May West. "Come in, come in." she motioned the five men into the small booth. "Mark, Mindy this is Stan Itam in the front here, Jason Hempworth next, Hello, Jason."

"Hannah," he said in an amused and peeved voice.

She snickered. "Ethan Thomas," she continued.

"Hannah, good to see you," Ethan said.

"Is that Pierre DeSaint under that awful fake beard?" Hannah asked.

"'Allo 'Annah," Pierre said. "Janice, c'est bon de te voir, mon petite amour."

"Pierre," Janice said with a blushing smile.

"And you I don't know," Hannah said to the last man.

"Ho Chen," The man said.

"Well, Chen, welcome to our little club," Hannah smiled at them with the same expression a cat would wear after eating a pet shop full of canaries. "This is going to look terrible on your official reports tomorrow morning, good thing you won't be reporting it."

"We won't, eh?" Ethan said with a smirk.

"Non," Janice said. "We will keep zis our little secret. Mark and Mindy are quite well protected, as you can see."

"You were the two in the street," Ethan said, chuckling.

"Jan and I are on a permanent detail," Hannah said. "But from time to time we may need a bit of assistance, and that's where you boys come in."

Stan laughed. "Hannah, you ver alvays such a vorthy adversary. Vat do you vish?"

Hannah chuckled. "Thanks, Stan. Sorry I had to shoot you last time, you okay?"

He smiled and held up his left arm. A healed over bullet wound shown on the underside of his upper arm. "Through and through," he said. "Your aim vas perfect. I am sorry sparing my life cost you two your positions at Interpol."

"'S alright, Stan, we've got a better situation now. As to what we want from you," Hannah continued. "We don't know yet. When we do, we'll come to you for a favor. It may be information on a threat, it may be for help in liquidating one. Whatever we ask, it'll fit inside your skill set."

The men nodded.

"It will be a pleasant relief from trying to kill one and ozer, non?" Janice said with a devious smile.

That struck Chen funny and soon all five men were laughing.

(*)

The familiar giggle from the hallway roused Mindy from the bed, and she crept across the bedroom, through the living room area of the suite, and to the door. Looking through the peep hole she saw Clara tugging a smiling and dazed looking Rich Purnell through her door. Laughing quietly she strolled back to the bedroom and her smiling husband.

"Clara and Rich?" he asked.

"Uh huh," she said with a cheek breaking grin.

"Nice job."

"She needs this." Mindy said, and kissed him as she crawled back onto the bed. "Shall we do the same, Mr. Watney?"

"Definitely, Mrs. Watney, definitely."


	10. Chapter 10 Inspiration

**Waning: science ahead!**

 **Like a lot of you, I am a scientist (armature) myself. I was once paid to do it for a time at an undisclosed location in the central Nevada desert, but now I'm just an engineer. Everything in this chapter is my own research and ideas. I haven't seen it anywhere else. The data are correct, and the processes are well known.**

 **We can do this.**

Inspiration

"Mark, can you get that end for me," Frank Watney asked. "Sure, dad," Mark answered. The green house was coming along. He lifted the end of the securing brace and held it in place as his father installed and tightened the retaining bolt.

Mark and Mindy were taking a long weekend and visiting his parents in Chicago. His father had bought a salvaged green house from a local nursery, and Mark was helping him re-assemble it in his parent's back yard. The twenty foot wide by forty foot long steel framework in the shape of a half cylinder took one day to assemble and now they were placing the large rectangular polycarbonate panels in the curve walls and roof.

"You'll have tomatoes into December," Mark said with a grin.

"That's the plan," His father said. "Citrus trees too, got dwarf lemon, orange and lime trees on order at the same nursery I bought this from." He grinned. "They made me a deal."

"The high intensity LED lighting strips I brought with me will help in the spring and fall." Mark said. "They're the same kind I used on Mars."

His father smiled. "That'll be good," he said as a car pulled into the drive. "Ah, Belle and Mindy are back."

Mark smiled. "Great, let's start the barbeque!"

(*)

An hour and a half later Mark and Mindy were walking through the half completed greenhouse. "This will be great," Mark said. "Dad had one for me when I was in my first four years of college, but it was little. We can really grow some stuff in here."

Mindy hugged his arm. "Yeah, we should get one, but greenhouse in Texas is kind of redundant," she said with a chuckle.

"Not enough room anyway," Mark said. "And the home owners association would have a cow."

Mindy smiled. "Cow, yeah, we should get a cow," she said playfully. "That'd piss them off."

Mark laughed. "You hate the HOA, I get it."

"Whereas you think they're all wonderful people," she chuckled. "All you wanted to do was put in food plants instead of decorative crap."

"Dumb asses," he said snidely.

"To bad you didn't have this on Mars," she said, looking around the nearly assembled greenhouse.

"Oh, yeah," Mark said. "Three of these and I could have kept the crew fed indefinitely."

"Is that so?" Belle Watney said as she walked up to her son.

Mark hugged his mother, he took every opportunity to do it he had. "Yeah, Mom," he said. "NASA is planning food production in hab like structures because shipping panes of glass or plastic to Mars is prohibitive. But being able to use sunlight for even fifty percent of the light would be a huge savings in energy production."

Mindy nodded. "To make it worthwhile we'd have….to," She stopped in mid-sentence and stared at nothing. Her mouth hug open and it looked like she was barely breathing.

"Min…" Marks mother started and Mark shushed her.

"Come over here," Mark whispered to his parents and led them away from Mindy and out of the greenhouse. He turned back toward the green house to watch his wife. She hadn't moved at all.

"What's going on, Son?" His father asked.

Mark smiled at them and pointed at Mindy. "That is what happens when a genius has a brainstorm." He laughed. "Could be a new way to arrange the knives in the kitchen, but I'm thinking something bigger."

Mindy stood stock still for almost five minutes. When she came back to herself she looked around and found that Mark and his parents were sitting outside the green house on lawn chairs waiting for her. She walked up to them with an embarrassed smile.

"How long?" she asked Mark.

He chuckled. "About five minutes. Well?"

"I have to talk to Alex," she said seriously.

(*)

Four weeks later Teddy Sanders, Annie Montrose, Venkat Kapoor, Bruce Ng, and twelve other directors and engineers were gathered in Teddy's briefing room.

"Alright, Mindy, Mark, you've got us here," Teddy said. "What's this 'great idea'?"

Mark smiled, and Bruce nodded for him to start. "A few weeks back Min and I went to Chicago to help my dad put in his new greenhouse. When we were assembling it Min had a revelation." He laughed and turned to his wife. "A really big one. Min?"

She rose from her chair and went to the front of the room. "We were talking about the food production plan and all the extra Hab materials that it requires," she said. "It also will be a huge power issue. We have to convert sunlight to electricity and then back into light. That's never even close to one hundred percent. The solar panels, the Hab materials, cable, and equipment for food production are equal to all the rest of the supplies put together. I think we could make most of the materials for greenhouses, and frankly a lot of other structures, onsite at Mars."

Bruce smiled crookedly at the stunned expressions on the faces of the other directors. He'd been working with a small team on Mindy's idea for the last four weeks, and he was very confident that she had come up with something that would change the direction of the whole of the effort.

"It requires two spacecraft," Mindy continued. "The glass foundry and the garage." She tapped her tablet and a cross-sectional diagram of the foundry and the garage appeared on the screen behind her.

"The glass foundry consists of a mobility system, a material processing front end, a nuclear fired furnace with four crucibles and two spares, and the testing lab for quality control," she said, pointing to the pertinent sections as she did. "The garage holds six one third size six wheeled multipurpose rovers, their tools, and the ancillary gear to maintain the system."

"Using SLS in Block Two Cargo config we launch the foundry first, and then follow with the garage two weeks later. The glass foundry spacecraft consists of the foundry itself and the sky crane landing system. The garage is the same. At Mars both the foundry and the garage follow the standard sky crane deployment that we've perfected over the years, but this time we don't crash the cranes. I suggest we load the cranes with communications gear, fly them to high points, soft land them, and use them as ancillary central communications points."

"Should have been doing that all along," Teddy said, shaking his head in wondered amusement. "Keep going, you're doing fine."

"Thank you, sir," Mindy said with a smile. "The foundry would need to be mobile so we've designed it, and everything else really, to run on the standard curiosity titanium/aluminum wheels. The foundry and the garage will require ten on each side. In the two weeks between the arrival of the foundry and the arrival of the garage we would drive the foundry to its initial operating location and level it. When the garage arrives we drive it to the foundry, deploy its solar farm and its rovers in their analysis configuration, and begin quarry selection."

"The sand at Schiaparelli seems to be excellent for our purposes, we just need to find a suitable, accessible, dune. Once we select our first quarry we drive the rovers back to the garage and change out the heads from analysis to the loading and material handling heads. The loader head is much like a standard front loader here on earth. The material handler is designed to manipulate the finished blocks and by products."

She took a breath and a drink of water. Chancing a glance at her audience she saw that they were eagerly waiting for her to continue. _That's a good sign,_ she thought.

"The next step is road building. We config four rovers in loader and, in a maneuver that Bruce and the JPL team have devised, drive them out to the quarry and make a road for easy traversing back to the foundry as they go. They each take a bucket load at the quarry and head back to the foundry. I've designed the hopper to accept ten loads before it's full. We send the rovers back in sequence, and they load the hopper. Then we fire the foundry."

"We'll be using heat tech that's been in use for a long time in the nuclear power industry. The crucibles, made of zirconium oxide ceramic, will resemble rectangular tubs with very thick basses. In the base of the crucibles will be rows of side to side horizontal tubes. The foundry processes the sand, sifting it down to melt size and extracting as much of the impurities as possible. The internal load system loads the processed sand in the crucibles, the crucibles are vibrated to settle the material, and then the rods with the nuclear fuel are slid in from each side of the crucibles. When the rods get inside the reactive distance they heat up the crucible. When the complete melt is achieved the sample arm takes a ten gram dollop of the glass and transfers it to the testing lab for quality assurance."

"The crucibles are then passed to the annealing area. When the glass is cool enough for extraction, the crucible is inverted, and the block is removed and stored in the annealing chamber for three days as it cools. Once cool, the blocks are ported from the side of the foundry, and a rover in material handling config stacks it with the others."

"Each crucible will make a two foot by four foot by one foot thick block of Martian Glass. In the sift and process at the front end we will extract as much contaminate from the silica as we can, but we anticipate a good deal of iron will be left behind. In fact we're counting on it. Iron in the silica mix gives the glass a very pretty pale green color, but more importantly it increases the UV and cosmic ray blocking characteristics of the glass. Our calculations indicate that, at one foot thick, the foundry blocks will have the same resistance to radiation as an inch and a quarter sheet of lead."

The other directors looked stunned.

"Yeah," Mindy said nodding. "We can build almost everything with them. Depending on how we finish the panels they can be transparent to nearly opaque. Since we aren't making soda glass, but instead making fused silica quartz glass, there are a few considerations. One is that you will get the block as it is. We can grind them, but heating and reshaping is out. The second is that the blocks will be very tough, much tougher than the glass you're used to. The panels will have a tensile strength of 400 PSI and a huge point impact resistance. Thermally they have an R value of 35, but that is directional if we use some coatings for specific applications. The thermal characteristics are so stable that we don't have to worry about expansion and thermal stress fracturing. The panels will have a mass of seventy-seven to eighty pounds and a Mars weight of around thirty-five."

"The team at JPL that Bruce and I have been working with believe that we can achieve a twelve block per day rate on average. With an eight by eight airlock opening at each end, each forty by forty Quonset structure would require four-hundred and seventy-four blocks. At twelve a day we'll be making enough blocks that every forty days we can have enough blocks to build another structure. If we butt the structures together we take seven days off that."

"The framework will also be made from the sand with a separate foundry eventually. We would have to send the framework for the first few, but after we have boots on the ground we can hunt out a titanium deposit. There seems to be a lot on Mars, as it shows up in the dust in a large percentage."

"We assemble the framework, lay a floor of hab canvas, put the blocks in place, install the airlocks, and seal the edges and gaps with our standard resin."

Mindy looked back up at the stunned directors. "For the cost of sending just the food production Hab components for Ares five we could send a factory that makes these blocks for as long as we need it to. When the local resource is exhausted the foundry and the garage move to another location and begin again."

She pulled a small, pale green glass block from her briefcase. It was two inches on a side and a quarter thick. "This is what the glass will look like," she said, and she passed the block to Teddy. "It's a fused silica glass with the same chemistry as we find at Mars."

There was a full minute of silence, and then everyone spoke at once.

Mark, Mindy, and Bruce took questions for the next three and a half hours.


	11. Chapter 11 Arrival

**Hello all. So, I've got this plotted in my spread sheet and I have at least ten more chapters. I started writing this as 'mental floss" to clear my head. I am primarily an HP fan fic writer, but I find this story compelling, and so apparently do you, my faithful ones. So I will continue, though perhaps at a bit slower pace. Partly because we're getting into some areas of science that I need to research and get my facts straight, but mostly because I have an HP story that is my central focus, and I'll be getting back on that, but fear not, Mark and Mindy will make an appearance every week if I'm able. And, yes, Hannah, Janice, and their friends will return.**

Arrival

The astronaut and his wife travelled. On orders from NASA's media director they visited the great glassmakers of the world, explaining the plan and gathering even more expert advice on the design of the spacecraft systems. They visited China, Russia, India, the U.K., and all the other partners in the global project that Mars exploration was becoming. Corporate interests then came forward offering their help, and NASA was happy to have them on board.

The American glass maker, Corning, offered to build the majority of the foundry systems. Aircraft giant, Boing partnered with their rival Airbus to make the spaceframes and fuselages of the foundry and garage spacecraft. The Chinese National Energy Agency supplied everything involved with the nuclear fuel. From the raw fissionable material through the finished rods, they assembled and tested everything.

The first full melt foundry test happened eight months to the day after Mindy presented her concept to the Mars exploration team. Corning flew three completed crucibles to Nanjing. The test bed was a simple mockup of the foundry systems, though spread out for ease in analysis and alteration. A full batch of sand, that approximated the Martian sand as well as could be done on earth, was loaded into the hopper and the foundry systems were tested in sequence.

A few minor issues with material separation were addressed, and on the third day the furnace was fired. The melt was quicker than they had anticipated. Corning, in consultation with the Chinese nuclear team, had doped the ceramic with materials that conducted the heat far more efficiently while suppressing radiation migration. There was a small concern in some quarters that even a tiny amount of residual radiation left in the glass panels would be a public relations problem.

The entire melt process from crucible load to sample acquisition took four hours and twenty minutes, well ahead of the five Mindy had allotted. The blocks were ready for extraction from the crucibles an hour and fifteen minutes after the nuclear rods were withdrawn. A plate of titanium slid across the top of the combination crucible and mold, the entire arrangement was picked up and inverted, and the block slid cleanly free. The six degree bevel on the long axis sides of the crucible matched the arch of the Quonset structure, and it allowed for easy extraction of the block.

After the blocks cooled for three days in the annealing chamber they were examined. The light green, bordering on aquamarine, color was striking, that was the first impression they made. While quite transparent, the optical quality was not perfect, as the panels were not absolutely flat do to the nature of their manufacturing process. Testing revealed no significant increase in radiation content of the glass, and the panels were as strong and resilient as expected.

In the meantime, General Motors had come forward with an offer to build the rovers. As with Corning, Boeing, and Airbus, NASA agreed that G.M. could use the fact that they built the rovers in any public relations way they chose. There would be no corporate branding on Mars though. The only logos would be NASA, JPL, ESA, ISA, and CNSA.

The cost savings were enormous, and the fact that several large interests were building the components allowed the acceleration of their delivery and the construction of the two spacecraft. The completed spacecraft were launched on October the twentieth and thirtieth of twenty-forty-one during the Holman Transfer period prior to the one that would see the Ares Five crew take the Hermes back to Mars.

(*)

"We've got a good chute!" Carl at telemetry yelled. The assembled managers and engineers in mission control cheered, one in particular.

"We're at Mars, Min," Mark whispered in her ear as she wiped her eyes.

"Still have three minutes of terror," she whispered back.

"Decent imaging coming in, Guidance," Marie said from Mindy's old chair.

"Copy, Satcon. Put it up." Mindy answered. The giant display at the front of the room showed multiple windows, tracking data, a cross-section of the foundry spacecraft, a diagram of the Sun, Earth, and Mars orbits with a line representing the spacecraft's travel, and now a large window with the video feed from the spacecraft itself. Schiaparelli crater loomed in the image.

"Perfect trajectory," Carl said. "We're in the pipe five by five."

"Copy, Telemetry," Mindy said to Carl and looked back up at the screen. The heat shield was still clearly visible, tumbling toward Mars. It grew smaller and smaller until it was only as a few flickering pixels, then there was a large cloud of dust as it impacted into the crater floor.

"Decent engines firing," Carl announced, and scattered 'yeses' sounded throughout control. "Two hundred meters," he called, and they could see wisps of engine exhaust in the edges of the frame.

"One hundred." A smooth sandy crater floor lay beneath them.

"Fifty, beginning sky crane." Sand and dust began to be kicked up by the decent engines.

"Twenty, lowering," More sand.

"Ten." Mindy gripped Marks arm hard.

"We're down!" the room exploded in cheers and high fives.

"Still have another maneuver, folks," Brendan Hutch called.

"Copy, Flight," Mindy said. "Crane status, Telemetry?"

"Crane moving off, attaining altitude," Carl said. "Approaching target. Ten percent fuel. Descending, three percent fuel. Two percent. Contact!"

Mindy turned and hugged Mark, wept for a moment into his shoulder, and then collected herself. She had a job to do.

"Deploy the mast cam," Brendan called. "Satcon, I want a precise location and pics of the area on the next MRO and MGS passes. Telemetry, status on the foundry and the Com array when it's available." He turned to Mindy. "And congratulations, Guidance. Well done."

She cleared the lump in her throat. "Thank you, Flight," she said. "Now, let's get to work."

(*)

Annie Montrose had the greatest job on the Earth, most of the time, and this was one of those times. "Hello everyone," she said with a smile as she entered the press room. "Let's get started, Conner?"

"The Foundry and the Com link are down and safe, what do we know about the status of the Foundry?" he asked.

"Thank you, Conner," Annie said. "The Foundry com system has linked with Schiaparelli Com Base One and the two are reporting that their communications systems are fully functional. The Flight team is currently deploying the running gear. We'll know in an hour or so the condition of the mobility system." She smiled. "And once again I'd like to thank our partners, Corning Glass, and the Chinese National Energy Agency for their superb work and generosity in constructing the foundry components." She pointed to an older woman. "Janene?"

"Thank you, Annie," Jenene said as she stood. "What was Mindy Watney's reaction to the successful landing?"

Annie chuckled. "Mindy was doing her job as Guidance control, and her reaction was professional and mature," she snickered. "She only cried on Mark's shoulder a little after the Com base touched down."

The press room laughed as one.

"Charles?" Annie continued.

"What's the status of the Service Garage?"

"The Garage spacecraft is on trajectory and at speed with no reported problems," she said. "We expect the same performance from its landing system as we witnessed today." She smiled. "And, as with Corning, I would like to thank our partner, General Motors, for constructing the rovers to JPL's rather exacting specifications, along with the loader and material handling heads for the Service Garage spacecraft. Dana?"

"Is there any indication of radiation leakage from the foundry?"

"That was our biggest concern," Annie said. "The last thing we want to do is dump nuclear waste on Mars. The telemetry systems are reporting nothing but the usual background cosmic radiation we find at Mars. We have detected no Alpha or Beta radiation of any significance. Aseph?"

"The release says you were on target, how close to perfect were they?"

Annie chuckled. "Well, according to MGS and MRO data the foundry is eighteen meters from the center of its target ring, and Com Base One is so close to perfect the MRO can't resolve the discrepancy."

"Nice shootin', Tex," one of the reporters called out, and Annie laughed.

"That would be Mindy Watney and Rich Purnell that did the nice shootin'" Annie said with a smile.

(*)

"They are continuing to delude the population," The heavy man with the beard said.

"Agreed, as if mere mortals could climb into heaven," said an older, grey haired woman.

"These 'space' agencies are the work of Satan, with their made up pictures and videos. There are no planets to land on. They defile heaven with their machines. They serve the deceiver!" the younger man in the room declared.

"We must strike at their heart. We must take their face from them," the woman at the head of the table said calmly.

"All that serve the deceiver are grist for the mill," the young man said with venom.

"Amen."

(*)

Mindy snuggled into Mark's side. It had been a very good day.

"Ven looked happy," Mark said, and he kissed the top of her head.

"Everything survived," Mindy said smiling. "The garage is down and safe, the second com point is up and functional, and we'll be making glass in a month, "He's ecstatic."

"Did you see Rich today?" Mark asked.

Mindy nodded. "He was on the phone to Clara, but I gave him a hug and told him he was a god."

"She still on track for the move?"

"Yeah," Mindy said happily. "She's all over leaving Minnesota," she laughed. "Chief prosecutor for the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, Clara Pennington, Sounds good, huh?"

He laughed. "My wife the yenta."

"Hey," she said in a fake offended voice. "They did it all themselves, all I did was point Clara at Rich before the wedding." She levered herself up on her elbows and faced him. "And you've had a hand or five in that two."

"Mostly it's me and Chris asking Alex and Rick Rich's questions and then passing the answer along."

Mindy kissed him. "You've given him some pretty good advice on your own," she said. "And what you've passed along from Rick has been very helpful." She chuckled. "Clara's extremely happy with that part."

He snickered. "Well at least her initials won't be changing."

"Now you're the one being the yenta," she said laughing.

"Rich has been whistling at his desk with 'the grin'. You don't have to be psychic to figure out why."

Mindy chuckled herself. "Clara can't wait." She laid down on Mark's chest. "And I was right."

"You usually are," he said with a snigger.

"So are you," she said. "But specifically, I was right about Clara and Rich. They fit really well."

"Is that why she has 'the grin' too?" he asked, and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Mindy slapped his arm. "Don't be crude," she said, and then blushed and chuckled. "You're right, though." She chuckled again. "Thanks to you four. Clara says it's the best ever. Says he's got a ten …"

"You can stop there," Mark said. "I don't need an image of that when I'm talking with him."

"Took me a few days," she said rolling her eyes.

"Clara still having trouble with her sister?"

Mindy frowned. "Dannie needs to get over herself. Rich is autistic, so what!"

"Agreed," Mark said. "He's definitely on the spectrum, but once you understand how his mind works his less than polite demeanor makes sense. She just hasn't got there."

"She doesn't want to," Mindy said. "Sorry to break this to you, my love, but Dannie's been a bitch since she was seven."

"I'm having trouble figuring out how you really feel about Clara's younger sister," Mark said sniggering.

"She's a stuck up piece of shit that's extremely jealous of her older sister, does that clear it up for you?"

"Completely," he said and kissed her. "Well, dinner with Janice and Hannah tomorrow."

"I'm curious to find out if Pierre got Janice to go out with him again," Mindy said with a grin.

"You really are a yenta," Mark said smiling.

"I like seeing people happy."

"Even if they have to try to kill each other now and again," Mark said laughing.

"Janice has never had to shoot at Pierre," Mindy said as she snuggled back into his side. "That was only Hannah and Stan, and she intentionally missed." She chuckled. "Besides, Hannah made it up to him… a couple of times."

"How'd we wind up the closest friends of the stars of international espionage?" he asked shaking his head.

She chuckled. "Just lucky I guess."


	12. Chapter 12 Intelligence

Intelligence

On the planet of the robots it was business as usual. The marathon runner, Opportunity, was still at Endurance Crater doing science thirty five years after its ninety day warranty had run out. Curiosity had been given new life by the Ares One crew when, as part of their mission, they replaced its aged Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator with their own from the Mars Decent Vehicle. Now the Mars science Laboratory was doing analysis again, cruising the hills around Gale Crater. The mobile laboratory launched in twenty-twenty named Resolve had driven across the smooth sands of Amazonis Planitia and up the side of Olympus Mons to study the ancient volcano.

A fleet of craft orbited the planet, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, EXOMars, the Deep Space Relay, and several others sent a constant stream of data back to earth.

And at Schiaparelli Crater eight intelligent machines made glass.

(*)

"What's on the trouble tickets today?" Mindy asked as she entered the control room.

"Nothing much," Brendon said. "Rover Four has a sticky wheel so we've sent it and Three to the garage, we'll have Three do the compressed air rinse of Four's inner wheel knuckle like we did with Rover One, and that should get everything back to one-hundred percent."

"K, you're relieved, go get dinner. I'll see you tomorrow," Mindy said and laid her hand on his arm. "Good job, Brendon."

"We've been making glass for two months with only three failed castings," he said proudly. "Less than one percent failure rate is incredible, and we've got almost two full structures in the stacks."

Mindy nodded and looked up at the mission board. The furnaces were half way through a melt, the hopper was at seventy-five percent, rovers Two and Five were on their way back from the quarry, Three and Four were headed to the garage, One was on his way to the quarry, and Rover Six was moving finished blocks to the stacks.

Mindy looked at the stack monitor. Each stack was eight blocks per layer and four blocks high. They had seventeen stacks arrayed in the warehousing area and were closing in on eighteen. If a Martian giant wanted to play Jenga they were all set.

A smaller window on the big board showed the Hermes in the space dock. Its Vasmir one engine was completely refurbished and ready to shove the Hermes through space again. The repairs to the front of the ship had been completed months prior, and the ship was being readied for Ares five departure in just thirteen short months. In that time five more pre-supply missions would be launched for Mars.

The Ares five team consisted of the original Areas four astronauts with one exception. Brian Olberman, the geologist and medical mission specialist, had graciously surrendered his chair to taikonaut Nie Yaping. Brian would be going to Mars as flight physician on the Kore.

Mindy had met Yaping on their trip to China for the test firing of the furnace, and she was pen pals with her in a way. They emailed every week. Yaping was a fan come friend, and she was insatiably curious about everything Mars related. As a physician she asked constantly about Mark's recovery from the rigors of Mars and the space travel between, as an artist she wanted to know everything about the foundry and the glass it made, and as a scientist she wanted to know everything else.

"Flight, this is Satcon," Marie said. "Got weather coming in."

"Let's see it," Mindy said.

The view from the furnace mast cam was replaced by a satellite view of Schiaparelli and its environs. A large dark mass was approaching from the north.

"Speed?" Mindy asked.

"Calculating," David called from atmospherics. "One-hundred-twenty-eight kilometers per hour. Damn."

Mindy looked at him. "Time to the Ares Five site?" she asked.

"One hour, ten minutes," David answered after doing some math for a moment.

Mindy turned and addressed the room. "All right folks, we've done the bad weather drill, this time it's real." She turned to the rover team. "Rover team, finish the maintenance on three and park Three and Four. When"-she paused and looked at the big board_" when Five and Two dump their loads in the hopper park them too. Bring Six back from the stacks and park it. How long till One gets his load?"

Glenn McKitchen, Rover Lead, looked down at his console. "Ten minutes," he answered.

"Can you drive him in a sand storm?" Mindy asked.

"I'll have him back before it hits," Glen said with a proud smirk.

"Okay, you'd better," Mindy said, and they all began the long wait for the storm to set in.

(*)

The sun shone down on Rover One as he dutifully trundled along the road to the quarry. The solar panels on his back couldn't quite keep up with the power loss, but his batteries were charged, and the drain was minimal. The next rotation cycle had him doing material handling while six underwent his weekly maintenance review and then took over loading. The Artificial Intelligence that resided in the programming of the rovers was the pinnacle of the art. They could make all the navigation decisions they needed to based on their incredible camera optics and spatial analysis programs. They had a self-preservation protocol that would override everything but astronaut safety, and they could communicate between themselves and act as a team if needed.

In its rudimentary mind Rover One knew that the others had been sent to the garage for safety due to an incoming storm. That bit of information percolated through the programming and triggered a heightened awareness of danger. As it approached the quarry the main optical head scanned the dune and quickly selected the scoop point. The rover moved forward and took a one third cubic meter bucked load of Martian sand from the dune. The camera head swiveled to face the non-head end of the rover and he stared back down the road to the foundry.

Every five minutes Rover One's navigation camera system looked up and took a picture of the sky. The fifth time it ran the comparison program it came up red. A large opaque cloud was cresting the northern rim of the crater and barreling down on the foundry site.

Internal programs ran and triggered other routines. Decisions were made at the speed of light and the rover doubled its speed.

The foundry, witnessing its servant's actions, called out to the rover and asked for an update. Rover One replied with an estimate that got it back to the foundry with its load, and then to the garage with a few minutes to spare. The foundry turned to its companions in orbit. Messages were sent to the orbiters through the Comm bases asking for the latest images of Schiaparelli Crater. Dozens of pictures were passed to the foundry in moments. The foundry reutilized its glass analysis processor for image analysis and checked the images for the speed of the storm.

The analysis processors reported back that it was seeing the storm accelerate. The foundry was about to pass this to Rover One when a small rock got kicked up by Rover One's front right wheel and it lodged in the running gear of the left middle wheel. Current spiked and automatic circuit breakers kicked in. The center left wheel on Rover One stopped.

And an enormous number of things happened in less than a minute

Rover One did a quick self-test and it jiggled the wheel in an attempt to free the obstructing stone. Having no success Rover One lifted the wheel off the ground and proceeded at half speed. The foundry did more analysis and found that the rover would not make it back to the garage in time, with or without its load.

All around the planet the cyber intelligences conferenced. Mars Global Surveyor proposed and overland route to the foundry that would be three hundred yards shorter. The foundry vetoed that because of unknown sand conditions. The garage volunteered to move toward the rover. The foundry vetoed that because the garage was to slow to make up the time. The garage then volunteered rovers Three and Six as rescue. The foundry accepted this plan.

Throughout the discussion among its companions the Comm bases had been silent. When the foundry made its decision they sprang into action. Triangulating with the foundry on Rover One's signal they were able to pinpoint its location in real time and relay that knowledge to Rovers Three, Six, and to the foundry. Rovers Three and Six exited the garage and made top speed down the quarry road.

(*)

"What the hell just happened?" Mindy nearly yelled.

Glenn McKitchen, at the rove console, looked amazed. "They… Rover One has a wheel obstruction. They made a plan," he said in quiet, stunned voice. "The Foundry, the rovers, MGS, the Comm bases, the whole robot community of Mars just made a plan! I'm calling the AI team, they need to see this."

Mindy stopped him. "First tell me what they're doing," she said.

Glenn looked down at the data dump on his tablet. "There was a problem with Rover One's center left wheel. They had a conversation among themselves, MGS, and… well all of them really, and _THEY_ thought up a plan to get the rover _and_ his load." He shook his head. "Rover Three is in loader config now, and he's heading to Rover One. Rover Six is in material handling, and he's on his way too. They've done it by now, but their plan is to have Rover One dump into Rover Three's bucket, Three drives on to the foundry and delivers the sand. Meanwhile Rover Six grapples with One and pulls him at top speed to the garage."

Glenn smiled broadly. "Our eight prodigy's up there just sensed a danger, analyzed the situation, analyzed resources, and concocted a plan. AI is going to shit kittens."

(*)

A cloud of dust preceded Rover Three as it sped up to Rover One. Three lowered his bucket to the ground and tilted it up to receive One's load. One carefully dumped his load into Three's bucket, and Three sped off to the foundry. As soon as Three was clear of Rover One, Rover Six moved in and grappled rover One's tow hook. Together they made for the garage.

(*)

Mindy watched the mast cam feed from the foundry. Rover Three appeared out of the desert and approached the foundry. In the distance she could see Rover Six and One's dust trail as they neared the garage. Her little minions had done well. Rover Three dumped his load quickly into the hopper and made top speed to the garage.

The front edge of the storm was just beginning to hurl micro particles at the garage when it closed the two remaining doors to Rover One and Rover Six's bays. Everyone was safe. The foundry had full hopper, enough material for two full days of casting at least, and its annealing chamber had only the last round of blocks left in it, so there was plenty of room for product. Mindy nodded to herself. The storm plan was working.

(*)

They were naked and sweating again. The acrobatic nature of the yoga poses they were attempting had increased exponentially. Mark had his feet against the back of her hips and his hands supporting her shoulders as she arched her back and grabbed her heals.

"Ekam," came out slow and meditatively.

"Dve," they whispered.

"Trini," they said almost prayer like. Several moments passed, and then Mark lowered Mindy to the mat.

Without a word Mark got on his knees, arched his back, and grasped his ankles. Mindy placed her hands on his chest and slowly, with great care, did a hand stand on his chest.

"Ekam… Dve… Trini…" She lowered herself to a crouch and then to the ground.

Mindy laid down with her back to the floor, and Mark stood. He faced away from her and she put her feet against his hips. He leaned back and she caught his hands just as his feet left the ground. This time he arched his back as she pushed him up parallel to the floor.

They held the pose in silence until Mindy let him down. She had been in fairly good shape before they had come together, he had been still somewhat weak and atrophied from all the time spent in space, now they both were trim and fit. They were each developing a hint of a six pack, and neither had any spare body fat. They weren't obsessive, just consistent in their exercise routine. Most days they did yoga, and three times a week they ran or swam.

"Ralph's back," Mindy said, levering herself up on her elbows and looking out the floor to ceiling living room windows that faced the canal side of the house.

Mark rolled on his side and looked out at the ten foot alligator basking on the pool deck next to his chaise. "I'll miss him," he said.

"Yeah, me too," Mindy said. "I love this house. It's great for entertaining, love the pool, we get to have a boat if we want, but the HOA sucks, and it's not a child friendly house.

"You still want to go for it?" He said with a smile.

She nodded. "Yes, my intrepid hero, I want to have our child," she smirked. "Or children."

Mark waggled his eyebrows. "Wanna go work on that now?"

Mindy laughed. "Next year, my love," she said and kissed him. "Right now I've got eight up there to think about."

"They kicked ass last night," Mark said with a chuckle.

"They certainly did," Mindy said proudly. "The AI guys were stoked. They had written these kinds of protocols into the system, but they never thought it would result in the kind of collaboration we saw yesterday."

"I'll be folding that into the curriculum," he said. "The Ares Five crew will be working directly with the rovers. They're ready, but I think for everyone else we need to think about how we interact with automated help right from the start of training."

"That's a good thought," Mindy said. "Robot assistants will be crucial to Mars."

"And everywhere else," he said. "In that meeting yesterday we were discussing the next target after Mars. The dark side of Mercury is one, and they are seriously thinking about Europa."

"A sixty mile deep ocean," she said. "It'd be a terrible waste of habitable space. Got to be something alive in there."

"That's why we're going."

"Can't make glass on an ice ball," she said with a smirk.

"Nope, but we can burrow in the ice," he said. "The same nuclear probe tech we used at Ceres to bore in and see if it had a subsurface ocean will let us melt our way through the ice at Europa."

"Rich has an Idea about Ceres," Mindy said.

"Yeah, he told me," Mark said. "He's so smart he's a little scary sometimes."

"If it works…"

"He says the math all checks out."

"So," Mindy said. "We build a giant rocket motor on the surface of Ceres, push it out of its orbit and toward Mars."

"Yeah," Mark said. "And ten years later Mars captures it and they become a binary planet pair."

"It spins up the dynamo inside Mars and it gets its magnetic field back." Mindy said. "Then we bring in the comets and give Mars back its water. Brilliant."

"It's a project for the next century," Mark said. "We've got a lot to do, but once we put that plan in motion humanity will have a whole and complete new world to build on."

"So, they're gonna do it?"

"I think so," Mark said. "They're sending Rich to China to explain it to CSA."

Mindy snickered. "I know."

Mark looked puzzled. "How…"

"Clara is going with him."

"Ah," he said and chuckled. "His trip was supposed to be secret," he said, and smiled slyly. "Well, since you know, here's another one. He's got the ring." Her eyes lit up. "Not a fucking word," he said sternly while waging his finger at her. "Okay?"

"Okay," she said with a hint of defeat.

"Hey," he said and cupped her cheek "Let it be a surprise."

She nodded and smiled. "I will, I'm just really happy for Clara." She wiped a small tear from her eye. "It's been a long time coming."

"After meeting dumb fuck, I get it," he said. "What a turd!"

"She still thanks me for loaning you to her that day."

He smiled. "Another stroke of brilliance on your part," he said. "If the two of you had shown up, he'd have been the bully you said, but as it turned out all I had to do was intimidate the fuck out of him until he surrendered the dog."

Mindy hugged him hard and kissed him. "I love you so much," she said, and then stood and pulled him to his feet. "Let's go practice the baby making routine." She wiped some sweat from his shoulder. "In the shower I think."


	13. Chapter 13 Class

**So, yeah. Moving, blown up equipment at work, and all the usual stuff that keeps me from writing conspired to make this a longer interval than usual. Hopefully life will give me a break soon and you'll see quicker updates.**

Class

"Hello everyone," Mark said as he entered the classroom.

"Good morning, Sir," the trainees replied as one, and Mark winced.

"Alright," he said, smiling. "First off, my name is Mark. I know a lot of you are going to have a problem with that, but Sir makes me cringe, and when someone says 'Mr. Watney' I look around for my dad. So, please, call me Mark."

"Yes, Si…uh, Mark," he heard from around the room.

He chuckled and began his first day speech. "Okay, so, you've all heard my story," he said and rolled his eyes. "A few times."

They laughed.

"Good," he said. "So, I don't have to go into detail about farming in feces. It's smelly, it's gross, and it worked." He sat at his lecture stool and took a drink of water. "By the way, this right here"-he held up the water bottle-"is the most important thing in your life when you're not on this planet. We'll get back to that, but first…"

He set the bottle down and walked across the lecture stage. "I tell this to every class. In space nothing but your fellow astronauts will help you. Everything wants to fight you, and almost everything wants to kill you… quickly." He let that sink in. "So, if you have a temper you need to lose it. If you are arrogant, as I've seen in recruits from time to time, you need to grow some humility, and if you're a moody type you need to elevate yourself. I can tell you, nobody wants to be around a moping POS for months in a titanium tube."

He saw that look in their eyes, all of them. They expected a pep talk and road stories, not psychoanalysis. Introspection was not a natural activity for the twenty to thirty crowd that made up the majority of the recruits.

"Space is dangerous. You knew that intellectually, I'm going to make you know it viscerally, right now." He picked two recruits. "You, Marion, and you, Omar, come on down."

The two recruits made their way down to the lecture stage.

"Alright, you two are out for a nice afternoon stroll on Mars. The sun is shining and life is good." Mark picked up a red marker and dotted Marion's forehead with it. "A micro meteorite just blew a hole in Marion's face shield and knocked her unconscious." He turned to her. "Lay down."

As she laid down on the floor he turned to Omar. "Time starts now, what are you doing?"

"Do I have duct tape?" Omar asked.

"Let's presume not," Mark answered.

"I'm getting out my sealing kit," Omar said.

"And?"

"I apply the resin, stick on the valve, and wait ten seconds," Omar said. He was starting to get physically agitated, and Mark saw it.

"That adrenaline is good shit, eh?" Mark said, and the class chuckled nervously.

"Okay I'm shutting the valve," Omar said with some relief.

"And now?"

"Is there a rover nearby?" Omar asked.

"Nope."

"Um…" Omar looked around at the rest of the class.

"Her vitals alarm is now going off," Mark said calmly, and he walked back to his seat. "Breath rate dropping," He continued.

"Where's the Hab?" Omar nearly shouted.

"Two hundred yards," Mark replied. "Heart rate dropping fast."

"Fuck it," Omar said." I'm picking her up and running."

Mark nodded. "Good call." He turned to the class. "Scary, yeah?"

They nodded.

"I had worse," he said and pulled Marion to her feet. "And I was alone, as you could be," He handed her a wipe for her forehead. "If you're fortunate and lucky enough to be selected for a mission you'll find a lot of danger comes with it. We all think, at this point in our training, that we've got our head straight about that, and that if the worst happens we can deal with it." He snorted. "You're wrong, you're not ready, but with my help you will be."

He turned to Omar. "You did well, but the first thing you do in an emergency is call for help." He motioned to Omar and Marion, dismissing them to return to their seats. "Except in the most extreme situations, there will always be another astronaut around to help you. If there isn't, a rover is the next best thing. As was proven a few months ago, they are very adept at problem solving, almost as good as we are. You're volunteering for the most dangerous job there is. Death is a few micro meters away _all the time_ , but if you never give up, if you never surrender to despair, then you can survive almost anything." He smiled at them. "Questions?"

Every hand raised.

"Daniel."

"Mis… Mark, you weren't ever tempted to give up?"

He smiled. "Of course I was, but you give yourself a few minutes, if you have them, to rage at the universe, or Mars in my case, and then you get back to work." He looked at all of them. "And that's really all there is to it. You get to work. You use that great big evolved brain of yours to save the rest of your sorry ass." He snickered. "Anna?"

"What was the launch off Mars like? I saw the pictures that the Hermes took of the MAV, it was a skeleton!"

"Fastest man in the history of space travel," Mark chuckled. "It hurt. My bone density was down due to the time I spent in Mars gravity, so several of my ribs gave up as my chest pack went from 20 pounds to over two hundred." He smiled. "That said, it was interesting to accelerate that fast… before I passed out from the G forces. Jack?"

"Is Mars as beautiful as I looks in the pics and vids?"

Mark smiled in reminiscence. "They don't do it justice… at all." He walked to his stool and sat. "Standing on a world that isn't Earth is the greatest experience a person can have." He looked at them. "I was so privileged. Although I don't recommend it as a vacation plan, I got to see more of Mars than anyone else will for quite a while. My only regret is that I didn't get to see Valles Marineris and Olympus Mons." He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it's beautiful. Could use a few trees though. Valerie?"

"You lived in your EVA suit a lot, what was the hardest thing about that?"

Mark laughed for a while. "Okay, lots. I got what were essentially bed sores from it, it stank with a capitol s, and after a while it's like a prison, but as to the worst thing? There's sort of this little hazing secret that the old guard kept. I'm gonna let you in on it so you're prepared."

He smirked. "Gentlemen, Ladies, we are all human, oui?" He laughed and said, "Ahh, my friend Janice is wearing off on me. So, there will come a day when you're out for your stroll on the Moon or Mars, or maybe Ceres or Europa…"-he paused for a several seconds-"and you fart in your EVA suit." He watched as their eyes widened. "It's worse than you're thinking, by a lot, and they programmed the voice to be snarky, 'Methane levels approaching critical', bitch."

(*)

"Good day today?" Mindy asked as she set Mark's plate in front of him.

"Yeah," he said. "It's a nice crop of recruits. I can see at least three or four of them on the Kore."

Mindy smiled and rubbed his shoulder as she sat. "Well, thanks to us they'll be well dressed for it."

Mark took a bite of his lasagna. "Damn, Min, this is great."

"Your mom sent me the recipe," she said. "Wasn't hard, just took some time."

"Annie get hold of you today?" He asked after a few minutes.

"Yeah," she sighed and put her fork down on her plate. "We're doing the 'grip and grin' again tomorrow. At least she's tapering off using us so much."

Mark smiled at his wife. "You're doing better than me at it though. They love you out there."

She laid her hand on his. "Spillover from how much they love you," she said.

"Are Clara and Rich really just doing a civil ceremony?" Mark asked.

Mindy smiled softly and nodded. "Clara had the big wedding once," she said. "This was her idea. Can you imagine Rich at the center of attention for that long? He'd implode. No, it'll be just us, their parents, Ven, Annie, and Roberta."

"Annie still trying to steal Clara from the Parks Department?" Mark asked.

"You weren't the only one to think about laws on Mars," Mindy said. "Annie wants to have the Mars Charter all drawn out before the Kore's fist mission."

"Yeah, it's a great idea," Mark said. "Maintaining order with six is easy. Fifty people is a mob, and you've got to have some rules."

"What's this thing we're doing tomorrow? The French?"

"Swiss," Mark corrected. "There'll be three Swiss scientists on the first Hestia mission, and Annie wants us to 'make them feel welcome in the planetary space effort'"

Mindy chuckled at her husband's impersonation of their friend. "You gotta love Annie."

Mark nodded. "Yeah, you do."

(*)

Mark looked out across the gallery of the historic museum. John Glen's spacecraft sat a few feet away, Neil Armstrong's suit in a glass case behind him, the EVA suit he had worn off Mars in another case nearby. The only piece of Ares Four that came back from Mars was a unique example in the gallery.

Currently he was wearing a tuxedo given to him by Giorgio Armani. He felt he looked good, but Mindy looked astonishing in her designer gown from Paris that Roberta had dressed her in. Smiling, he took his wife's hand and led her to the media director's side.

"Welcome Mr. Ambassador," Annie said. "I'm Annie Montrose, this is Mark Watney and his wife Mindy."

"A pleasure," the ambassador said as he took Mark's hand. "A most harrowing experience you had."

Mark smiled. "Yes, and I'm glad I survived," he said. "It's allowed me to convince people like you to help us go back."

The ambassador laughed. "Such directness, you Americans! I should expect nothing less." He turned to Mindy. "And an even greater pleasure, Mrs. Watney. My daughter is a huge fan."

Mindy smiled. "Is she here?" she asked.

"Sadly no," he said. "It was thought that we would not have too many people here. It would give us more time with you."

Mindy had perfected this. She held out her hand, and said, "Call her number, and give me your phone while you talk with Mark."

"You are even more gracious than the stories say," he said as he pressed his daughters contact tab.

"What's here name?" Mindy asked as he handed her the phone.

"Genevieve."

Mindy took the phone and walked a few feet away. "Hello, is this Genevieve?" she asked. "Ah, good. I'm Mindy Watney." She held the phone away from here ear with a smile as a fifteen year old girl squealed in the background.

"She is lovely," the ambassador said, looking on as Mindy chatted with his daughter.

"Don't have to convince me," Mark said with a smile. "Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. Annie is right, we have to have every nation on board when we go to Mars and beyond. Space isn't just for the big rich countries, it's for everyone. Most importantly though, as Annie insists, the more we involve all of humanity in the effort, the less war there will be, and I'm certain she's right."

"As am I," the ambassador said. "My country has always tried to avoid direct involvement with war, but we have been involved, with the money." He shook his head. "My people have chosen to be at the center of an industry that can be, at best, amoral. We are a strong, proud nation, but sometimes I am ashamed of those we do business with. Perhaps helping with this effort can absolve us of some of that."

Mark chuckled. "We're meeting the Pope next month, I'll ask him about that for you, if you want."

"On what matter does His Holiness wish to speak to you?" the ambassador asked smiling.

"He's using my experience chipping up a crucifix for firewood as the central story for his Easter Sunday sermon."

The ambassador nodded. "It will be interesting to hear what he makes of it," he said. "If you are to meet him in Rome, please accept my hospitality and visit my family and myself in Interlaken, it is truly beautiful."

Mark put his hand on the ambassador's shoulder. "Tell Annie, she'll make it happen."

(*)

"Nice job with the ambassador's daughter," Mark said as Mindy snuggled into him.

"Nice job getting an invite to Switzerland," she countered.

"Also you," Mark said with a chuckle.

Mindy shrugged. "Meh, both of us," she said.

Mark kissed the top of her head and drew the covers over them. "I love you so much, Mindy Watney."

"I love you, Mark," she said. "More than I thought possible." She kissed him, slowly, passionately. "Tomorrow's Saturday, nothing on the calendar, what do you say we spend the day in bed?"

"Have I mentioned how much I love being married to a genius?"


	14. Chapter 14 Attempt

Attempt

"Welcome to Nasa's Eighty-fourth anniversary" Teddy said from the podium. "On the first of October Nineteen Fifty Eight NASA became operational. Since that historic day this agency has fulfilled the promise of humanity by exploring the cosmos we find ourselves in. Today we celebrate that historic moment, the moment when humanity thought beyond the bounds of Earth, the moment when we dedicated ourselves to the promise of science, the moment we turned our back on the baseless superstitions of the past, and looked out into the heavens with unclouded eyes."

Mark looked out at the crowd in the main gallery. He recognized many of the faces in the front of the audience, and he chuckled to himself. _How in hell did I wind up here? Got the love of my life next to me, presidents and prime ministers out there that are friends of ours, and two of the best agents Interpol ever had in the audience watching our back. Life is weird._

The first twenty tables held the VIPs from around the world, the back half of the grand gallery held the general public. The celebration dinner was an open affair, anyone could buy a ticket. That said the tickets were two thousand dollars each for the cheap seats.

Annie had gone all in though. The food was catered by five of the finest restaurants in Houston, the decor in the grand gallery had been augmented with special artifacts from NASA's past, and along with the spectacular food, a basketball sized replica in ice of the Moon or Mars sat as the centerpiece of each table. Every living astronaut was there in the first twenty tables, their seat and target government official assigned by Annie.

All five thousand tickets had sold in two days.

Mark, Mindy, Annie, and Roberta were sat at one of the front row tables that were on a slightly raised platform. Annie wanted them to be seen in the back. A few tables away Beth and Chris Beck chatted with the Speaker of the House, at the next table the Vogels entertained the Prime Minister of Germany, Teddy was now schmoozing the majority leader of the Senate, and Mark sat across from the Australian Prime Minister. He and Mindy had been charged with getting the Aussies to anti into the Martian effort. It was turning out to be easier than he had thought.

"So, Mister Prime Minister I…"

"Please, Mark, call me Arthur," the prime minister of Australia said.

Mark snickered. "Okay, Arthur, Australia should be involved, really involved. You folks are pretty familiar with life in a desolate desert," he said with a smile, and the prime minister laughed. "So we'd like you on board, so to speak. The Kore should have representatives of as many nations as we can manage, and you're one of the major players on Earth, so you should be in on Mars."

Arthur Madigan chuckled. "Mrs. Montrose has been saying much the same thing to us. Besides the prestige of participation what else would our investment bring us?"

"Knowledge," Mark said. "You would be helping the whole of humanity learn more about this planet and the rest of the universe. And with your special knowledge of desert environments I think the Australian astronauts would be invaluable.

"We have been talking about it in the assembly," Arthur said. "The money would have to come from our military budget, and that's a difficult subject to broach. They want more fighter aircraft, vehicles, and ships. Spending all that money sending a person or two to Mars is a waste according to them."

"I understand the refugee crisis is an issue," Mark said. "South-east Asia is drowning. One meter of sea level rise since the turn of the century has done them no favors, but if we learn more about what happened at Mars maybe well gain some insight into how to correct what we've done here."

"I will pursue it," Arthur said. "I think the people will be on my side."

"Wait till they see the completed greenhouses," Annie said. "Just over a year from now the Ares Five crew will be at Mars, and the real work will begin. Mr. Prime Minister, Mark proved we can live there. It's our duty to the future to go back and stay. When we reach beyond our planet we fulfill our purpose. No matter what belief system a person holds, gaining knowledge is the highest virtue, and we are dedicated to learning all we can."

"A very persuasive argument, Ms. Montrose," Arthur said. "I'll use on the Assembly."

"Thank you," Annie said and sighed. "No rest for the wicked though." She rose from her chair. "Got more MC duties."

(*)

James Allan Myer believed. He believed that God was on his side. He believed in the infallibility of scripture, and he believed the Earth was a nice three layer cake with hell below, the flat plain of the Earth in the middle, and the heavens above. These people had defiled God's perfection with their machines and lies. The artificial star they had placed was an abomination and would be destroyed in time, but first he would strike at their heart. The whole of this satanic organization was built on the lie that humans could violate the heavens and God's domain, and James would rain down the righteous vengeance God demanded on them.

The Jezebel, the unrepentant daughter of Eve, was mounting the stage to speak with her forked tongue, and James moved forward through the maze of tables toward the stage. He never took his eyes off Annie as he slowly made his way toward her. When he was a scant fifty feet away he pulled the plastic gun he had printed from his pocket. It held the two bullets in a derringer style arrangement, and it would only work once, but that was all James needed it to do. He practiced with several he had printed and was sure of his aim at this short distance. The Jezebel would die, now.

He whipped his arm up. "Gun!" A French accented woman's voice yelled as the pistol cleared his pocket, and he took quick aim. Just before James pulled the trigger something heavy and hard impacted the side of his head.

(*)

Janice Perrin was the youngest agent ever commissioned at Interpol. They had plucked her from a special forces training class for the French army when she was only seventeen. Her perfect scores on the math, science and history potions of the entrance exams for the Université Paris Dauphine had got their attention, her inability to lose at hand to hand combat, and her gymnastic abilities clinched the deal. The fact that she was astonishingly beautiful was just a pleasant bonus.

Eighteen years later she was surveying the crowd at NASA's anniversary.

Several of the dignitaries had their own security with them, and Janice smirked at some of the more obvious goons. _Vous avez le cervau d'un sandwich au fromage_ she thought, looking at the pile of meat surrounding the Russian Ambassador. _Stupide!_ She had analyzed the occupants of the VIP section and found no indications of a threat from that direction, so her attention was focused on the attendees from the general public.

Most of the faces that were turned toward Mark and Mindy had expressions of adoration on them and Janice relegated them to a lesser threat status in her mind. Her partner, Hannah Smyth was easily picked out of the crowd she towered over. At six foot three, with a models face and a body builder's physique, she cut an impressive figure. Hannah sat in the second row of tables with Stan near the Swiss ambassador, their cover identity being a rich Internet entrepreneur and his wife. Pierre was on Janice's left, and she was there as his date. The French ambassador knew of Pierre, but he had no idea who and what Janice Perrin was.

The dinner had been served and mostly eaten when Annie rose to speak at the podium. As the crowd turned their attention to Annie, Janice turned her attention to the crowd. In her analytical way she scanned the smiling faces, and one triggered a major alarm in her head. Where almost everyone else was wearing a smile, his face held barely concealed rage. She folded her napkin, the signal alerting Hannah. Pierre felt her tense, and he turned to her just as she leapt to her feet and yelled, "Gun!"

(*)

Mark felt Annie pat his shoulder as she passed on her way to the podium. _Go get 'em girl,_ he thought. Annie's speech tonight was all about the promise of the future and what NASA, CNSA, ESA and all the other space agencies could do when they pulled together for a common goal. She had run it by Mark earlier in the day because he was the example she intended to use, and she would call on him to rise at an important moment. Mindy patted his hand and smiled as their friend mounted the dais.

Annie placed her speech on the podium and Janice's voice rang out. "Gun!"

Mark turned just in time to see Janice throw a dinner plate like a Frisbee at a man standing between two tables. It hit him in the side of the head just as he fired. Later analysis of the video files of the evening revealed that the plate impacted into the side of his head eighteen milliseconds before he fired. The gun was deflected by two degrees from the impact, and the bullet that left it hit Annie in the upper chest passing through her left lung and lodging against a rib. The analysts deduced that un-deflected the bullet would have passed neatly through her heart.

Janice was already in motion toward the attacker and Pierre was right behind her. Hannah had thrown her chair behind her and was racing toward the man as well, Stan at her back. Ethan Thomas beat them all there. He delivered three heavy punches in a row to the side of the struggling man's head, and James went limp.

"CIA!" Ethan stated loudly over the screams and shouts.

Roberta was screaming Annie's name as she skidded to a stop on her knees next to Annie, a pool of blood formed under her. Chris Beck was right behind her.

"Move, Roberta," he said firmly. "Annie, ANNIE!" he shouted.

Re-emerging from the shock, Annie looked up at him. "What the fuck, Chris. She choked out along with an unhealthy amount of blood.

"You've been shot," Chris said. "I'm, going to plug the hole, and it's going to hurt." Without warning he shoved his finger in the bullet wound. Annie screamed.

Across the room Ethan Thomas was hefting James over his shoulder. He looked directly at the security chief that had just ran up to them. "CIA. My friends and I are going to have a chat with the asshole." Without another word he walked away toward the restrooms, Janice, Pierre, Stan, and Hannah following him.

Mark and Mindy forced their way through the mob around Chris, Roberta, and Annie. Roberta was sobbing and holding Annie's hand, Chris was concentrating and gently probing with the end of his finger trying to find the bleeder, and Annie was looking up at them all with wild panicked eyes. Mindy knelt next to her and took her other hand.

"The ambulance is almost here, Annie," she said. "Hang on, Chris has got you."

"The ambulance will pull up out front," Mark said. He grabbed one of the rectangular tables and upended it. Flipping it over he folded the legs, then he flipped it back upright. "Chris, you and Annie are going on this. ARES, TO ME!" he shouted, and every Ares crew member, past, present, and future ran to him. "Slide Annie on," he said indicating the table. "You too, Chris."

They quickly slid Annie on to the table and Chris crawled on as they did, never letting pressure off the artery he had compressed to stop the massive bleeding.

"Up they go!" Mark ordered, and every Ares member that could get a hold on the table lifted it off the ground. "Lobby," Mark ordered and they sped off at a quick march.

(*)

In the bathroom things were going very poorly for James Myer.

"Wake up, fuckwad," Ethan yelled as he slapped James hard.

"Did I kill her, did I silence the Jezebel?" James asked as he came back to consciousness. Hannah and Stan had him in a hammer lock hold.

"You'd better fucking hope not," Ethan said in a deadly voice.

"I want my lawyer!" James shouted. "I have rights!" The laughter from the five other people in the room shocked him.

"Allow me, Ezan," Janice's sweet voice said, and she stepped into James's field of view. "You are very mistaken about your situation. Allow me to correct you mizasumptions. We are not zee police, we are spies. Ezan here is CIA, Stan is Russian. 'Annah and I are freelance, and you are fucked." She pulled a small black leather roll from her purse.

"Janice?" Pierre said worriedly.

"I won't kill him," she said with a smile and then turned to James. "Yet." She unrolled the leather sheet to reveal more than two dozen small shiny implements and vials. She picked one that resembled a tiny spoon. "Zer are many points on zee human body one can do small amounts of damage to and cause tremendous pain. Are you aware of zis?"

"What… I… What are you? AAAHHHHH!" Janice scooped his left nipple from his chest in one swift motion. She flicked the small piece of flesh over her shoulder and pulled a small vile of white powder from the roll. "Boric acid," she said by way of explanation. She calmly poured a measure into the spoon and applied it to where his nipple had been. Outside in the hall they all heard the scream.

Janice smiled, looking like a kindly nurse. "Tell me everyzing," she said in a voice completely devoid of emotion.

(*)

Vous avez le cervau d'un sandwich au fromage - You have the brain of a cheese sandwich


	15. Chapter 15 Conception

Conception

Pain. Searing, unbelievable pain.

She couldn't breathe, and elephant was sitting on her chest and every breath was a struggle.

Roberta's voice penetrated it all, and she opened her eyes.

"Annie, Annie please, oh god, Annie!" Roberta hovered over her, tears dripping from her face.

"Move, Roberta." Roberta's face was replaced by Chris's.

"What the fuck, Chris?" she choked out.

"You've been shot."

 _Shot?_ She thought. _What the fuck? How…_

"I'm going to plug the hole, and it's going to hurt"

 _What, wait I…_

Agony, blinding agony, and she screamed. Then Mindy.

"The ambulance is almost here, Annie."

 _Well, that's good, cause this fucking hurts._

"Hang on, Chris has got you."

Mark appeared, barking orders. _Take charge guy you got there, Min._ She was gently slid onto a harder surface, and suddenly she and Chris were floating through the grand gallery. Then darkness took her.

Voices.

"Gunshot, massive blood loss, St. John, NOW!"

 _Wow, Chris, the ER training is right there, isn't it? Thanks._

They were moving faster now, and she could hear a siren. Darkness.

More voices. "Prep room three. Hang two O neg," a commanding voice said, and she opened her eyes. Lights were passing over her as she sped down a hall. A face behind a surgical mask appeared.

"Welcome to St. John, Ms. Montrose, I'm Doctor Carl Thompson, and we're headed to surgery to get that bullet out of you and plug up some holes."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Don't talk," Doctor. Thompson said. "Keep that pressure on, Doctor Beck."

Darkness.

(*)

James Myer's world was pain, nothing but pain, a red fog, and a soft voice.

"Is zat all you know?" the voice said in that red fog.

"Yes, yes, everything," he wept. "Please, God, make it stop."

"Zere, you see Ezan? Zere is no need for prolonged brutality. Chemistry, physiology, and psychology, zat is all zat is needed. A little Strychnine, a bit of sodium pentozal, a dash of ecstasy, and a sharp implement in a sensitive spot."

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?"

A musical giggle preceded the voice saying, "Shall I grant him release now, Ezan?"

"No," the rough male voice said. "Keep _him_ alive, we'll deal with the rest."

"As you wish," the feminine voice said. A soft hand stroked James's face. "Strychnine is very painful, non?" He felt a prick on his arm. "Tannic acid, zee antidote? It is worse."

"tu me fais peur , mon amour," another man's voice said.

The feminine voice laughed liltingly.

(*)

"Welcome back to Today on NBC," Stefani Germanotta said. "Our guest this morning is astronaut Mark Watney." She turned and the director took the two shot. Mark sat on the couch next to Ms. Germanotta dressed in a button down shirt, khakis, and his NASA logoed ARES 3 jacket. "Good morning, Mark."

"Morning, Steff."

"Well, let's start with the dramatic events of Saturday night. What can you tell us about that night?"

Mark looked at Miss Germanotta and nodded grimly. "Min and I were enjoying our deserts when it came time for Annie's speech. A man, James Myer, came up from the back of the gallery and pulled a printed plastic gun from his pocket. Luckily a guest of the French ambassador's noticed it, and she threw a plate at his head."

"Who was she?" Miss Germanotta asked. The video is strangely blurry of that incident.

"She wishes to remain anonymous," Mark said. "But Annie has had the pleasure of thanking her."

"It was an incredible throw," Miss Germanotta said shaking her head. "Amazing aim."

Mark smirked. "Yes, they looked at the video. The gun was deflected before he fired. Annie was very lucky our friend was there. Myer's bullet would have killed her."

"What happened next?"

"Min and I went to Annie while a man from the CIA, that happened to be there, took custody of Myer," Mark told her.

"Who was he?" Miss Germanotta asked curiously.

"Again, he wishes, for obvious reasons, to remain anonymous."

Miss Germanotta nodded. "I understand. And then?"

"We got there just as Chris, Doctor Christopher Beck, my best friend, compressed the bleeding artery that was pumping Annie's blood all over the floor. She um… complained, sort of ineloquently." Mark said, and took a drink of his water. "Min told her the ambulance was on its way, and I though she should be out in the lobby when it got there, so I called the Ares team to me. We made a litter from a table, and we carried Annie and Chris to the lobby."

Miss Germanotta nodded. "Yes, Director Sanders spoke about that at the press conference, let's take a look."

The scene changed to the NASA press room, with Teddy Sanders standing at the podium. "And I'd like to say a word about our Ares astronauts. You know we choose these people with the greatest of care. We choose them for their physical abilities, their character, and their mental toughness, but the one thing that we are constantly surprised by is their heroism. Led by Mark Watney and Doctor Christopher Beck, our Ares astronauts acted swiftly and decisively, and they saved Annie's life. I will be forever in their debt." He wiped a tear from his eye, and the scene changed back to Mark and Miss Germanotta.

She cleared her throat to cover the burst of emotion. "High praise coming from your boss," she commented.

Mark shrugged. "We were just doing what we do," he said stoically

"I understand that James Myer was in very poor condition when your CIA friend handed him over to the Houston Police," she said.

"He was alive," Mark said with no sympathy. "He was lucky."

"Lucky?" Miss Germanotta said with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah," Mark said. "If one of us had got there first his odds of survival would have been very low. We love Annie, she's one of us." He shook his head. "He wouldn't have survived."

"Oookay," Miss Germanotta said slowly. "Speaking of Ms. Montrose, can you tell us how she's doing?"

Mark smiled. "Making her doctor's life hell." He chuckled. "They're having real trouble keeping her off the phone. Roberta, Annie's wife, keeps having to steal the phones back that Annie steals from the nurses. She's not supposed to be talking."

"I've met Ms. Montrose on several occasions," Miss Germanotta said with a grin. "I understand your difficulty."

Mark smiled. "Well, until she's back on her feet, I'm filling in for her." he turned to the camera with the red light. "So, Annie, sit down and shut up!"

Eighteen hundred miles away in Houston, Annie, from her hospital bed said, "Fuck you, asshole," at the TV screen in a hoarse voice, and Roberta laughed.

"What do you know about Myer's motives?" Miss Germanotta asked.

"He calls himself a 'Warrior of Heaven'," Mark said. "Apparently he's part of a group of science denialists that insist the Earth is flat, we never went to the Moon or Mars, The Space Docks are satanic devices we have defiled Heaven with, and that NASA and every other space agency around the world are filled with… devil worshipers or something idiotic like that."

"He sounds insane," Miss Germanotta commented.

"Obviously, and unfortunately he's not alone," Mark said, and he turned to the camera again. "I have a message for his friends." His visage grew stern, and in a low, deadly voice he said, "You failed, and you will always fail. Superstition and fables are the refuge of small minds. Be faithful if that's what you want, I am. But understand, we are unlocking the secrets of God's universe. The Pope thinks that's our whole purpose here in Earth, and we will continue. Your ideology is doomed, and when it's gone we'll all say good riddance. The Earth revolves around the sun. The Moon revolves around the Earth, and you are Luddite idiots who refuse to accept the truth. You got a problem with that, come at me, I'm ready. As my wife would say, 'let's dance'."

Miss Germanotta took a few startled breaths and turned to the camera. "Okay, well, um, thank you, Mark. We'll be right back with Grammy winner Tony Alcott."

(*)

"Are you out of your goddamned mind?" Teddy yelled.

"Don't think so," Mark said calmly as he sat in a chair in Teddy's office.

"Jesus, Mark. You basically dared them to take a shot at you!"

Mark nodded. "That's the plan." He smiled and looked at the Director. "Think it worked?"

Teddy looked back at him like he had six heads. "What?"

Mark chuckled. "Don't worry, Teddy, I'll be perfectly safe."

"How?" he asked angrily.

"Those people at the celebration that took Myer down? They're friends of ours," Mark said. "They're on it, and they're very good."

Teddy sat behind his desk. "You're sure they can take care of this?"

Mark laughed. "One CIA, one SVR, and three Interpol special forces. They're up to the job," he said. "And if they need help they have an MSS agent, and an MI5 agent at their call." At Teddy's stunned look he said, "Min and I have made some friends."

"I'll say," Teddy muttered. "What are they going to do?" he asked.

Mark smiled grimly and snorted. "You don't want to know, _I_ don't want to know. This is serious, Teddy," Mark said. "Myer got to live by the skin of his teeth. I doubt the rest will be that lucky."

"Why are they doing this?" Teddy asked in wonder.

Mark smiled. "Let's just say Min and I are well liked."

(*)

"He challenged us! That servant of evil has dared us to come for him!" The heavy man with the beard said.

"And so we shall in due time," the dark haired woman at the head of the table said calmly. "James failed badly, but that doesn't mean we always will. They must be on their guard constantly, and we only need to have an opening once. Our time will come, soon."

"Where will we strike?" the older grey haired woman asked.

"We will take the fight to his home," the dark haired woman said. "Find it."

(*)

"Zey are fools," Janice said, leaning over her lead hackers shoulder.

"They're worse than that," he said. "Took me ten seconds to breach their firewall. Idiots."

"You have zier locations?"

"A few minutes, goading them into searching for the Watney's address was a brilliant plan, Miss Perrin." Andrew Gardner replied.

"Mark's idea. Let me know when you have all zee locations, Andrew."

"Yes, miss Perrin."

(*)

Mark tossed his travel bag on the chair in the bedroom and started to strip. The flight from New York to Houston had been packed and noisy. The University of Texas marching band was returning from a football game on the same plane. Luckily, though he was immediately recognized, they choose to just smile and nod. Still, it had been a long flight, and the meeting with Teddy hadn't helped his stress.

He let the hot water flow over his back and moaned as the tension drained away. There was a rustling outside the stall, and the door to the shower opened. Mindy stepped in with him and wrapped him in a hug.

"Welcome home," she said and kissed him. "How's Steff?"

"She's good, says hello."

"She and David still coming in January?" Mindy asked as she scrubbed his back with her fingernails, one of Mark's favorite things.

"Yeah, They're looking forward to it," he said. "Steff says we're the only people on Earth that don't bow and scrape for her."

"Eh," Mindy said. "She sold millions of albums and filled stadiums with fans, you spent close to two years on Mars. It balances."

"I love you." He said, crushing her in a hug.

"Copy that."

"Jan called," he said. "They took the bait."

Mark was temporarily taken aback by the look on his wife's face. "Good," she said low and rough. "I hope they make them suffer as much and Annie has."

"Oh, they will," Mark said with a small foreboding laugh. "How is Annie?"

"Getting better every day," Mindy said in a relieved voice. "Chris says the danger of a pulmonary embolism has passed, and she should make a full recovery. The plastic surgery team at St. John has a plan for the scar," she chuckled. "But Annie is thinking tattoo."

"Oh yeah?"

Mindy laughed. "Yeah, she's thinks, 'Bullet Proof Bitch' with the wound as one of the O's would be cool."

Mark chortled. "Yeah, Teddy'd love that."

"The press corps would eat it up," Mindy said with a smile.

"Yeah they would," Mark said and hugged her. "They should just throw Myer in the press pit and walk away."

"He'll get what's coming to him." Mindy said confidently.

"Yeah," he said and sighed, "It's good to be home."

She traced her hand down his chest. "It's good to have you home," she said, and then grinned seductively. "It's hard to work on this procreation project without you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, let's get to it."

(*)

Later that night, as they slept, changes took place. A small single cell made its way toward its goal. Chemical reactions softened the barrier between it and its other half. The cell struggled forward, then suddenly the barrier parted, and it joined with its destiny.

The interloper's cell wall disintegrated, disgorging its precious cargo of DNA. Bonds were sought and formed, and in seconds the entire new and complete cell shuddered. A barrier of new chemicals formed around it, preventing any further interlopers from entering, and the new cell drifted into a soft cradle of tissue. Bonds were formed, and the cell began the process of division.

tu me fais peur , mon amour you frighten me, my love


	16. Chapter 16 Late

Late

In nineteen eighty nine a programmer in the tools group at Microsoft wrote a testing routine that allowed him to bombard the kernel of the new operating system they were writing with packets of data until the kernel was overwhelmed. Because of the robustness of the test script in handling data packets the lead software developer on the project incorporated the packet router of the testing routine wholesale into his kernel. The product, named Chicago, never saw release, but the kernel and the packet router lived on in the system that became NT.

NT became Windows Two Thousand, and the packet router became immortal, embedded in the heart of every computer running Windows on the planet. Fifty Three years later it was still there. Unknown to all but eight people on the Earth, the tools group programmer had left a back door into the packet router, and thus the entirety of the system. Andrew Gardner was one of those eight.

And Andrew had written a routine of his own, a small bit of code with very large effects. Once it executed it called home, Andrew's server farm, and in the background of the Windows system it uploaded a far more insidious program. This program duplicated every bit of data passing through the router, and it sent that data on to Andrew. More, it allowed Andrew to remove and replace data at his whim.

"I've given them the false location, Miss Perrin," Andrew said. "They believe the Wanteys live in Ocean City at the decoy house."

"Tre Bien, Andrew," Janice said.

"Yes, excellent, Andrew," Hannah said. "The house in Cypress is still reporting in the system as belonging to us?"

"Yes, Miss Smyth," Andrew said. "They are focusing all their attention on Ocean City."

"Good, now all we have to do is gazer zem zere," Janice said. "How many did you say zey had on zeir roles, Andrew,"

He consulted his tablet. "Fifty three active, with thirty eight high threat potential," he replied.

"Well, Chen and Jason wanted in on the fun," Hannah said nodding. "Looks like we'll need them."

"We will let zee boys handle zee pawns, you agree, 'Annah?" Janice asked.

"Yes," Hannah said. "And Delray?"

"I desire Madam Delray for myself," Janice said lightly, brushed Andrews shoulder with her hand, and turned to leave. "Track her movements, please." Her voice was like a blast of artic air.

And that familiar thrill of fear went down Hannah's spine. She loved her partner, deeply and in several ways, but on not so rare occasions Janice scared the hell out of her.

As the French woman left the conference room in the office suite, Andrew stared at her back, and he muttered, "I almost pity the bitch."

Hannah nodded.

(*)

"Ekam… Dve… Trini…" Mindy was balanced above him as he lay on his back. Her left foot was in his right hand, her right hand grasping his left foot from above, and her left arm and right leg spayed out horizontally.

The back lawn and pool of their Cypress Texas mini ranch lay beyond the window wall that dominated the back of the house. In the pasture, Mindy's horse grazed next to the small herd of male alpaca pasture mates they acquired for him. Opposite the pool a greenhouse the same dimensions as the ones that would be built on Mars sat partially assembled.

Mark gently lowered Mindy to the mat. "That was the hardest one yet," he said.

Mindy smiled coyly as she crawled up his naked body and kissed him deeply. "I love you," she said. "So much." A tear leaked from her eye.

Mark was temporarily taken aback. Not from her declaration of love, they both did that often, but her manner the last few days had been more emotional than usual for his analytical wife. "I love you too," he said. "So, you've been unusually cuddly and affectionate the last three days. Not that I'm complaining, I'm not, but fess up." He looked at her with an air of expectation.

She smiled and hugged him again. "Last month was very hectic," she said, her head laid on his chest.

"Yeah," He said with a snort. "It'll let up in a few weeks when Annie comes back."

"Yes," she said. "But in the middle of all that I sort of… forgot a few things."

He nodded, and said, "Didn't we all, I was late for a class. I hate being late."

Mindy burst into laughter, and Mark looked at her puzzled.

She rose on her elbows and kissed him again. "I'm not hating it so much," she said, and giggled at his mystified dog look. "I'm late, Mark. Very late."

"We aren't due in until…tomorr…" Realization lit his face. "Late?"

She nodded slowly with love radiating from her face. "Almost a month," she answered quietly.

"Are you?"

"Yes."

(*)

The astronaut and his wife slept, the sheets in celebratory disarray. The Earth turned, and Mars rose on the horizon. Across the interplanetary gulf the robots of Mars kept up their constant work. Heedless of politicians and fanatics, spies and engineers, astronauts and administrators, they explored, performed science, gathered data, and made glass on mankind's next home.

Further out in the solar system a probe approached Europa, the lander attached to it would finally answer the question that had been plaguing scientists for almost fifty years. Was there a subsurface ocean at Europa? And if there was, did that mean Calisto and Ganymede also had oceans as the data indicated? And most importantly, was there life in that ocean? The answers would be found by the intelligent machines of Earth's intelligent, spacefaring species.

All of these amazing accomplishments made no difference to three people in a small rural Tennessee home. They didn't believe it had happened. They did believe, fervently, that they were privy to the mind of the creator. They believed that that creator was on their side, and more they believed he had instructed them to do the violence they were contemplating.

And lastly, much to their future dismay, they completely believed the false data that Andrew Gardner fed them. They made plans, they strategized, they organized their followers, and they fell completely into the snare that had been laid for them.


	17. Chapter 17 Fruition

Fruition

"Well, Mrs. Watney, you're doing perfectly," her obstetrician said as she set Mindy's chart on the counter.

"How far along am I?" Mindy asked.

"It appears you conceived right around Thanksgiving, so about seven weeks now."

"Oh, that night," Mindy said, and chuckled to herself.

The OB laughed. "You know I find a lot of women can pinpoint the day. It's funny." She adjusted her stethoscope around her neck and wrote in Mindy's chart. "Come back next month and we'll check in, but so far everything looks normal and healthy." She looked up and smiled. "Happy new year, Mindy."

Clara and Stefani were waiting in the lobby for her. "Well?" Clara asked as Mindy came back out the door to the exam rooms.

"Everything is fine," Mindy told her. "And I'm famished, let's eat."

"Charles is pulling the car around front," Stefanie told them. "I made reservations at Carlo's for us."

"I could eat a steak," Mindy said chuckling. "I could eat a cow!"

"You have been on a bit of a protein binge lately," Clara said as she opened the office door for them.

"I was too at this point," Stefani said. "With both of my girls I just couldn't get enough red meat." She shook her head. "Course that was fourteen and sixteen years ago. Time flies."

"They okay with Mom and Dad being gone for a week?" Mindy asked.

"It's not like they're alone," Stefanie said with a laugh. "My mom is more of a disciplinarian than I am, they'll be happy to see us back home."

They stepped into the elevator on the obstetrics floor, and a young woman yelled. "Hold the elevator please!" She rushed in just as the doors closed, and turned to them with a smile. "Thanks, I really am late, so… I…" she stopped and her eyes went wide. She just stared in shock at who was in the elevator with her.

Mindy smiled. "Mindy Watney," she said, and she held out her hand.

"Stefani Germanotta," Stefani said, and she too shook the woman's hand.

"Clara Purnell," Clara said, as she took the woman's hand.

"Vixen Thomas," the stunned woman said. "Wow, uh, pleased to meet you all," she stammered. "Especially you Mrs. Purnell."

Stefani and Mindy looked at each other with puzzled expressions. "Where're you headed in such a rush?" Stefanie asked.

"Lunch with my husband," she said and giggled. "He doesn't know yet." She looked at Mindy. "Are you?"

Mindy nodded. "Can you keep that to yourself for a few more days?"

Vixen smiled. "Of course," she said. "Except for my husband, and I'll swear him to secrecy."

Mindy chuckled. "I can't keep anything from Mark either."

"He knows?" Vixen asked.

Mindy nodded. "Where are you at?" she asked.

"Five weeks. We've been trying for a while." Vixen replied. "And you?"

"Seven," she said and snickered. "It just sort of happened. We were planning for next year so I could get Ares five off the ground."

Clara smirked. "They'll work around it, Min. Brendon depends on you, and he'll get it sorted out."

"I bet Mark's overjoyed," Vixen said.

Clara and Stefanie laughed. "He over something alright," Clara said as she chortled.

"He's gone a bit _overboard_ with safety," Mindy said and rolled her eyes.

Stefani nudged her with her hip. "You're going to love those hand rails in about four months."

Clara looked wistful. "And it's never too early to baby proof," she said softly, staring into nothing.

Mindy and Stefani shared a look and a nod. _It'll happen,_ Mindy thought. _You and Rich need to take some time for just the two of you. Don't worry, it'll happen, Clara._

Vixen turned to Clara. "My husband is going to be so jealous," she said. "Meeting you would be the highlight of the year for him," she gushed.

Stefani and Mindy shared a surprised and amused look as they turned to each other and chuckled, this happened to them, not Clara.

"He's an engineer for Pepcon," Vixen continued. "They make Ammonium perchlorate, it's one of the precursors for the solid rocket fuel. His whole department are huge fans of your husbands, and after Mark and Mindy's wedding, when you two started dating? They were like a group of gossiping hens."

Stefani and Mindy laughed. "Let's take a picture to prove it to them then," Stefani said. They gathered behind Vixen in the elevator, and she held her phone at arm length and took a picture. Later, it was enlarged, framed, and sat on her desk. Her smiling face, surrounded by Stefani, Mindy and Clara's.

The elevator chimed and the door opened on the first floor. "So pleased to meet you, Mrs. Purnell, Mrs. Watney," Vixen said. Then she turned to Stefani and bowed. "My lady."

They all snickered, and then smiled and waved at their new friend as she hurried toward the parking structure.

(*)

"It's time," the woman with the raven hair said.

"Are we still using the bomb, Althea?" Kevin Paulson, a fat man with the grey beard asked.

"Yes," Althea Delray replied.

"That'll take almost everybody," Eileen Stanton said, shaking her grey haired head.

"We've prepared," Kevin said. "We've divided into teams. It takes ten to buy the materials and prep and load the bomb, two to drive it to the destination, two in the chase car, five to make sure the Watneys are there, and four more for the guard at the gates."

"Tell them we go tomorrow night," Althea Delray said.

(*)

"Tell them we go tomorrow night," played out of Andrew's tablet. Across the conference room Hannah Smyth nodded grimly. "Notify Chen and Jason," she said. "I'll tell Stan and Ethan." she smiled. "Janice can tell Pierre tonight."

(*)

On a small plot of land north of Houston sat an old farm. The original forty acres had been divided several times, and now the farm house sat among a group of out buildings and a barn on a crowded lot surrounded by fallow fields waiting for spring. An unusual amount of activity was going on there for an early winter day.

People went in and out of the barn frequently. Large bags of fertilizer and five gallon containers of deasil fuel made their way from the beds of trucks and trunks of cars into the barn. The cars and trucks had been pulling into the drive of the farm for hours over the course of the morning, as more and more people gathered there.

Stanislav Vladimir Itamolov watched it all through the eyepiece of the scope on his rifle. "They all seem to have arrived," he muttered quietly into the microphone on his collar.

"Copy, agreed," Ethan Thomas' voice said in his ear. "We hold until they bring out the truck."

"Da," Stan said and flex his arms and legs under the camouflage blanket the mimicked the field he was laying in. It was cold, but not nearly as bad as it had been in Afghanistan the last time he and Ethan had worked together, and he had gotten a good sleep in on the plane in from Argentina. "I am ready."

"Just like Tokzar," Stan muttered.

"Plevin," Ethan said.

"Net, Lukovo?"

"Lukovo," Ethan agreed.

(*)

Ho Chen had come from a long line of spies, ten centuries worth, and he was very good. He smiled. His new friends were exceptional spies themselves, and that they trusted him so completely made him feel honor bound to complete his part of the mission perfectly. He adjusted the tie on his security guard uniform and looked down at the little toy he had brought with him today.

It appeared to be nothing more than a Kindle 20, but it wasn't. The small black hemisphere that now adorned the top of the guard shack contained a tiny scanner. From DC to gamma rays, it scanned the surrounding half mile, and it had been designed to show any warm blooded life in that area as a silhouette on the screen. More, it had enough processing to identify humans from other large mammals, and it highlight them in bolder colors.

The five watchers had to be uncomfortable out there in the woods with all the bugs, he thought, but the four waiting in the van in the golf club car park across the street were his main concern. He looked down at the black bundle on the floor. "Only the wankers die," Hannah's voice said in his head, so the guard slept on in the captive bag. Around three the following morning he would awaken with the world's worst headache, but he would be alive, Chen thought.

The sun was starting to set and he saw the shapes in the van shuffling around in the back. "I'm moving on the van," he said into his wrist.

"Understood," Hannah's voice said in his ear.

(*)

Hannah Smyth looked through the canopy at the blind a hundred feet away. Pierre DeSaint was a very handsome man, it was little wonder he was the superior spy he was, and that Janice was as entranced as she was. He was also, as all of them were, an efficient killer. From their perches in the trees they could easily see the five people watching the house in their military standard camouflage gear. She flexed her shoulders and adjusted the rifle resting between her knees. Taking careful aim she practiced the shots for her three. "Tag, tag, tag," she said in rapid succession as they passed through her scope.

Pierre heard her soft rehearsal and he snickered. "Going for drinks wiz Stan after?" he asked softly into his collar.

"Yeah," Hannah replied. "Plays his cards right and it'll be more than that."

"You people!" Chen said, and as he crept from the guard shack into the surrounding woods, and Hannah and Pierre sniggered.

(*)

"I'll get it," Mark said as he went to the door. Andrew Gardner stood there when he opened it.

"Andrew?" Mark said curiously.

Andrew looked at him knowingly "Tonight," he said.

Mark nodded. "Mindy, your chess nemesis is here."

"Andrew," Mindy said, laughing, as she rounded the entrance to the dining room. "Come for another ass kicking?"

"I'll remind you, Mrs. Watney, that we're even," Andrew said with a smirk. "And I'd be happy to play the tie breaker while we wait for the all clear."

Mindy nodded knowingly. "I see."

"See what?" Stefani said from behind her.

"Miss Germanotta," Andrew said. "Wonderful to meet you in person."

Mark smiled. "Steff, this is Andrew Gardner, he works for Janice and Hannah."

"She knows?" Andrew muttered to Mark without moving his mouth.

"A little, not everything," Mark muttered back.

"I love them," Stefani said. "Hannah is so funny and Janice is so sweet."

Andrew snorted. Janice Perrin and sweet were mutually exclusive in his opinion.

"Come on in," Mindy said. "I'll get you your Guinness and we'll settle this."

Mark looked over at Stefani. "Get David and meet me in the greenhouse, you guys can help me plant. They'll be a while," he said and chuckled. "No yelling this time," he admonished both of them while shaking his finger at them.

Mindy and Andrew both wore the same offended expression, and Stefani howled with laughter.

(*)

Stan sighted in on the driver of the truck as a large group of people exited the barn with it.

(*)

Mindy moved her bishop, and she placed Andrew in check.

(*)

Ethan put the crosshairs over the heart of the woman driving the car in front of the truck

(*)

Andrew moved his rook, blocking Mindy's bishop, and she took the rook. "Check," she said.

(*)

"Now," Ethan said quietly.

(*)

Andrew moved his king sideways. Mindy countered with a diagonal move of her queen. "Check," she said with a feral grin.

(*)

Two small holes appeared in the windshields of the truck and the car with soft ticks, and the drivers, Kevin Paulson and Eileen Stanton slumped over, dead.

(*)

In the van at the golf club parking lot four men slid the side door open, and they found a short man, dressed head to foot in black, standing there in front of them. "Naocan," came from under his hood, and the man jumped into the van with them.

(*)

Andrew wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead and moved his last pawn into a defensive position. Mindy moved her knight. "Check," she said again.

(*)

"Go," Hannah's voice said in Pierre's ear. Two small pops sounded almost simultaneously. They were flowed by three more.

(*)

"Mate," Mindy said, and she knocked Andrew's queen over with her Knight.

(*)

Ethan changed weapons quickly. The M1 Garand was an old, heavy piece, but it shot incendiary rounds far better than most modern rifles. He leveled it at the center of the truck and fired.

(*)

"Zank you," Janice said to the cab driver as she paid him. "Zere is no need to wait. I will call for anozer when I am finished. It will be several hours." Smiling to herself as the cab drove away, she turned, and then walked up the long drive to the house in the woods of Tennessee.

(*)

 **Everything about these nutbags came from their own writings**

 **.**

 **They are real, they are serious, and some of them are violent.**

Naocan idiot


	18. Chapter 18 Birth

Birth

"Coffee?" Teddy asked.

"Sure," Mark answered. "It's been a morning already."

"I'll bet. Let's see if they're still talking about it," Teddy said, and he pressed the power button on the remote for the television in his office.

"Welcome back to the CNN morning report," the news anchor said. "The top story this morning is the premature detonation of a domestic terrorist bomb outside of Houston, Texas. We have a team of reporters on the scene. Let's go to Marcia Lynn at the detonation site. Marcia?"

The scene changed to a woman in a light coat standing in a fallow field. A large number of emergency vehicles with flashing red and blue lights in the background. "Thanks, Tom," she said into her microphone. "Behind me experts from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and local law enforcement are reconstructing as much as they can from the devastation wreaked by the premature detonation."

A pre-taped package played on the screen. "Early last evening a titanic explosion rocked the north Houston suburb of Humble," Marcia Lynn's voice said. The video showed several dash cam and security camera shots of the explosion. "Windows were shattered and doors blown from hinges in a two mile radius from the leveled farm building complex. The terrorists, known as the Warriors of Heaven, had gathered at the farm to assemble their truck bomb." Several more shots showed shops and homes with plastic duct taped over windows and plywood screwed over doors.

The scene changed back to the woman in the field. "Many of the terrorists had left notes for their families in their cars in the event they were caught or killed. Fortunately a few of those vehicles survived the blast, and those messages were able to provide clues to the identities of some of the terrorists killed in the explosion. Those notes also made clear the groups intended victims were astronaut Mark Watney and his wife, Mindy. We are expecting a statement from the Watneys later this morning."

"That should be fun?" Teddy said drolly.

"That same information and evidence at the blast site led officials to the home of Althaea Delray, the apparent leader of the group."

The scene changed to a male reporter standing at the end of the dirt drive leading through the woods to Delray's house. "Officials from Homeland Security and the Tennessee state police have been here at Althea Delray's home all morning," he said. "Ms. Delray chose to commit suicide rather than surrender to authorities. In the early hours of the morning the local fire department responded to a blaze at the Delray home…"

Teddy walked across his office and handed Mark a cup of coffee. "Your friends?"

"Like I told you, Teddy, you don't want to know," Mark said.

Teddy nodded. "Judging from that," he said, pointing at the screen that had transitioned to an aerial view of the former farm now crime scene. "We don't have to worry about them taking another shot at us for a while."

Mark smirked. "Probably not. That'll make Annie a bit more comfortable when she comes back next week."

"It will," Teddy said. "I'm sure the press will want more than a statement on this." He looked pointedly at the screen in his office. "What are you thinking of telling them."

"I thought 'if you're going to deny science and play with high explosives, you shouldn't be surprised when you blow yourself up'," Mark said.

"I like it, humor," Teddy said nodding. "Well, are you and Mindy ready to tell the world there's going to be another Watney?"

"Yeah, I thought I'd follow with that," Mark said. "It'll derail all the attention those idiots are getting."

"Good," Teddy said. "Musk is talking to us about building another foundry. Has he contacted Mindy about that?"

"He has," Mark said nodding. "He and Min met for lunch last weekend. He wants to build geodesic domes. He thinks the triangles would be easy to cast, and they could mate domes to Quonsets as passageways."

"He's wanted to get down on Mars for twenty years," Teddy said looking out his window. "Time's running out for him."

"He'll make it," Mark said smiling. "He's determined."

Teddy walked over to Mark and put his hand on Mark's shoulder. "Thanks for filling in for Annie," he said. "I didn't realize how much I depended on her until she wasn't there. You did great."

Mark nodded. "Any time, Teddy."

(*)

"Oh, and Mindy's pregnant," Mark said offhandedly, and the room exploded.

"Mark! Mark! Over here, any names?"

"When is she due?"

"Will she still work at NASA?"

Mark laughed. "One at a time folks," he said. "Okay, she's due in late August, it's early, so we're not even making a list of names yet, and yes, she will still work here at NASA." He looked out across the press room. There would be no more questions about the Warriors. "Let's get back Annie's rules, please. Hands?"

Every hand in the room raised.

(*)

Stan set his coffee cup down on the dull orange table. "Diss is horrible," he said, looking at the contents of the cup in disgust.

Ethan chuckled. "Yeah but the greasy eggs and cold toast more than make up for it."

"Vhy you insist on Denny's?"

"Memories," Ethan said. "Before they recruited me I was a cop. First time I had to shoot a perp my partner took me to a Denny's, and he fed me bad coffee and great advice." He smiled in reminiscence. "This keeps me sane."

"I understand ziss," Pierre said. "But I prefer more carnal pleasures." He looked at Hannah with a grin.

"Well, you'll just have to wait for Jan for that," Hannah said patting Stan's hand.

"Speaking of Janice," Ethan said. "She and Jason just came in." He stood and waved them to their table."

"Bonjour everyone," Janice said brightly as she and Jason sat at the table. "It seems all our endeavors were successful last night."

"They were," Hannah said. "Hello, Jason."

"Hannah," Jason said. "Sorry I missed the big show, but I was… unavoidably detained."

"Duty," Stan said. "Ve understand."

"It worked out, Jason," Hannah said. "I took your place and Andrew took mine."

"Good," Jason said, nodding. He reached around Stan and patted Andrew on the back. "Thanks."

"No problem," Andrew said around a mouthful of hash browns.

Jason chuckled. "At least I was able to rescue Janice from the wilds of Tennessee."

"Oui, zank you, Jason." Janice said. "It would have been a long walk to a safe location to call anozer taxi from, and I was… fatigued."

"Fatigued?" Ethan asked smirking.

"Madam Delray and I had razier a long talk."

Ethan snorted. "I thought you said 'zere is no need for prolonged brutality'."

"Zere is never a _need_ for brutality, Ezan," Janice said with her angelic smile. "But, occasionally,"-she nodded to herself-"oui, occasionally zere is profound… desire." The deep and lustful tone in her voice took Ethan, Stan, Chen, and Jason by surprise, and it showed.

Hannah and Pierre sniggered at the looks the others had on their faces. Now, at last, they understood.

"Janice has an idea," Jason said, shaking off the chill. "A very interesting idea."

Hannah looked at her partner, and Janice smiled and nodded back. "'Annah and I have also spoken on zis," she said. Janice looked at her comrades. The cool and collected CIA man, the dashing and fearless MI5 agent, the stern and efficient Russian, the composed and serene Chinese agent, her hansom and daring Interpol boyfriend, her brilliant hacker, and her beloved partner, all looked back at her in expectation.

"We are zee best at what we do," she said. "Zis is not 'ubris, it is simple fact. It occurred to me zat we,"- she looked at them meaningfully- "we, our little club, can have a direct and powerful effect on zee prospects for world peace." She grinned at their expressions. It had never occurred to _them._

"Zey had a word for me when zey were training me and analyzing my abilities. An unkind word," she said.

"And they were wrong, Jan," Hannah said taking her hand.

"Oh, I know zis," Janice said, and she smiled fondly at her partner. "But zey were right, in ways. Sociopaz implies that I would care for no one but myself, but I do care, very deeply, for you all, zee Watneys, and zier friends, zee Purnells. 'Owever outside of zat I find people a mere curiosity, and zat has allowed me to do zings most people would find abhorrent."

"I'm sure Althea Delray found that out," Andrew muttered.

Janice smiled demurely. "Yes, Andrew, she did." She looked back at her friends "But I am very concerned about 'umanity in general. You can zank zee Watneys for zat. I propose zat we form an organization of our own. Zat we work togezer for zee common good." She let them think on that for a moment. "We know, more zan anyone, how precarious zee world situation can get in a moments time. We can prevent zis, we can intervene when events are becoming untenable."

She had them, she could see it in their eyes. "Zink on zis," she said. "We will meet again in a few months to discuss it furzer… say for zee birth of zee Watney's child."

They were all lost in thought, and Janice smiled. She could see them reviewing their past, seeing points in their minds where events would have gone differently had they acted for humanity rather than country, or in Andrew's case, personal gain. It would be a difficult thing to overcome, the years of duty first, but they were all chosen for their ability to think on their feet and make accurate and informed decisions in moments. She had them.

(*)

Seven months later…

"Ow!" Mindy exclaimed.

"What," Brendon asked as he sat behind the Flight Control console.

"Eh, it's just pre-labor twinges," she said. "The OB told me they'd…" she looked down at the large puddle of water under her. "Or not. Could someone call Mark and tell him to meet me at Saint John?"

(*)

"Where's my wife?" Mark said breathlessly, bouncing from foot to foot.

The Saint John Birth Center receptionist smiled. "She's in room three, Mr. Watney." She giggled as he ran down the hall.

Deborah Park met him at the door. "Dr. Williams is in with her right now, Mark," she told him. "Give them a minute."

"She okay?" Mark asked.

Deborah smiled. "She's fine. It'll be a while yet, calm down."

"The press here?" he asked.

"They were," Deborah chuckled to herself. "Annie apparently drove Mindy over from the Center, and she met them at the door." Mindy's mother laughed. "They won't be back."

Mark laughed himself. "I've had more than a few of them say they want me back at the podium. I think they forgot while she as out how… firm she can be."

Deborah shook with silent giggles. "Well, I think 'get the fuck out you nosey bastards' got the point across."

"Love that woman," Mark said, and the door to Mindy's room opened. Dr. Williams, a short stout woman dressed in her scrubs stepped out.

"Mr. Watney," she said. "Mindy's fine. Progressing nicely. Effacement is nearly complete and she's starting to dilate, so it's probably two or three hours to show time." She looked up at him and smiled. "Still, you might want to get in there and hold her hand. It's about to get painful."

Mark opened the door and went in. Mindy smiled at him as he entered, and his heart swelled. She had never been more beautiful. "I love you so much." It just flowed out of him.

"I love you too," she said, and smiled wistfully. "We're a family tomorrow." She rubbed her belly. "The three of us."

Mark nodded, near tears. Seven years ago he would never have dreamed this would be happening. Then he knew Mindy only as 'she', now 'she' was about to become them, and he was dumfounded at his fortune. With a cheek-breaking smile of joy he pulled the chair over next to the bed, and he took the mother of his child's hand.

(*)

"Allo all," Janice said. They were gathered once again, this time in the conference room at Hannah and Janice's office. Looking out over Houston from the thirty-fifth floor they had a commanding view of the city. "Zank you for coming."

"Wouldn't miss it," Ethan said.

"'Ave you zought about what we discussed last?" she asked the group.

"Yes," Chen said. "It is an intriguing and compelling idea. How would we make it work?"

Janice nodded at the MSS agent. "Zee first and most important zing is zat we 'ave no secrets from one an' ozer."She smirked. "Zat is mostly zee case now, but we must trust each ozer completely. I feel zat we can do zis."

She saw them look around the table, assessing their compatriots. _That's correct, gentlemen. You are the best of the best. You hold the fate of the world in your hands, hold it carefully._

"Oui, you see you can," she said.

"I'm actually quite enamored of the concept," Jason Hempworth said. "I've done a bit in my career already."

"As have vee all," Stan said. "I am vis you, Hannah, Janice. Politicians are a fickle bunch, vee are much more able and qualified to make the important decisions."

"Yeah," Ethan said nodding in agreement. "I noticed all our governments played in the biologics area before burning that research to the ground. We've heard rumblings of some others trying to play there. We can't let that happen."

Chen leaned in. "You knew?"

Jason laid his hand on Chen's back. "Everybody knew."

Chen shook his head and chuckled. "Good," he said. "Who are we going for, Ethan?"

"Before we start talking missions we should at least organize a little," Hannah said. "We need a person to chair the meetings, direct, make snap decisions, and I think it should be Jason. He's got the temperament for it."

Jason smiled. "Well, Hannah, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I think the first president of the… um… International Security Council, how's that, should be Janice Perrin."

"Non," Janice said. "I do not desire power or responsibility of zat kind."

"Which is exactly why it should be you," Pierre said. "Mon amour, you are able to look at zings from a dispassionate point of view few can attain. For better or worse, you are zee best choice."

"Agreed," Stan said, nodding.

Around the table her friends looked back at her with satisfied grins. They had her cornered, and they all knew it. She rolled her eyes. "Oui, d'accord," she huffed. "So, Ezan, who has been playing with zee dez of us all?"

(*)

"Thanks everyone," Annie said as she mounted the platform in the press room. "I have a statement, and then I'll take questions." She looked down at here tablet. "Yesterday afternoon at five ten Mindy Watney went into labor as she was being relieved by Brendon in Mission Control. I personally drove Mindy to Saint John, and Mark arrived about forty-five minutes later. At ten forty-three last evening, the twenty-ninth of August, twenty forty-three, Ares Frank Watney was born. Mother, son, and father are fine and no worse for the experience. The Watneys request of you, and thank you in advance for heading their request, that you allow them their space to become the family they now are. Mark, Mindy, and young Ares will make their public appearance here in the next few weeks. Until then, we and they request that you keep your distance. Questions?"


	19. Chapter 19 Family

Family

"Uhh, what time is it?" Mark asked as he came awake. His eyes refused to focus on the clock.

"Marcanyumber," came from his side.

He chuckled, "I'll get him."

"Um hum."

Sliding from the bed he staggered into the next room and collected his son. Even when he was huddling in the rover, the hab a hydrogen bomb, he still hadn't been as sleep deprived as he had been for the last three weeks. Parenthood was turning out to be an exercise in navigating life while barely conscious. Managing to get back into their room and bed he handed Ares off to his mother.

"Thankumm," Mindy mumbled as she gave her son her breast.

Mark cuddled next to them and smiled as Mindy drifted back to sleep. Ares suckled for about ten minutes before he too drifted off. Happiness didn't even come close to describing what he felt at that moment. Gently lifting his infant son from where he lay against the love of his life he took up a moist towelette and quickly wiped the slobber and milk from them both. Back in the nursery he swiftly changed his diaper and softly patted his son's back until a loud burp sounded. Ares had even woken. Mark took the towel from his shoulder, laid him down in the crib, and just stared. He and Mindy had made a whole new human, and he still had trouble wrapping his mind around that.

He could see his father and Mindy's mother clearly in his son's face. He prayed Ares had inherited his mother's intellect, and he hoped the boy had his father's courage. Downstairs, their parents slept on. Frank and Belle Watney had been forced to take the guest room by Deborah Park. She and Edwin had taken the den and converted it to a makeshift bedroom for the duration of their stay. Mark smiled. The fact that their parents got on well was a blessing he counted daily.

Their other family, their NASA family, was just as enamored of Ares as their parents were. Annie and Roberta visited at least every other day, Roberta demanding to hold Ares for her entire visit. The Martinez's had been by, and Ricks wife had given Mindy several very helpful hints on how to deal with infants. Beth and Chris had worn knowing smiles, and they chuckled at the red rimmed eyes of their friends during their visit. Even Director Sanders had come to deliver a large basket of food and a certificate for diaper service for year as a gift from the NASA family as a whole.

This was his reward, Mark thought. Surviving Mars, surviving Annie's use of him for her own plans, surviving the trails of dating in a very public forum, and just doing the right thing in general, for all of that Mindy and Ares were his reward.

And his responsibility.

That was never far from his mind.

The simple boy from outside Chicago had become a major player in the future of humanity, and the fact that that rested on his shoulders he could deal with, but now it had paled to insignificance. He had this tiny human to make the world safe for, he had his other half, his best part, sleeping in the next room, and he had the whole of humanity looking to him and his cohorts to prove that they were destined for greater things.

And they were, he was certain.

Elon had come by too. The next foundry was nearing completion, and Space X in concert with the Chinese, Corning, and GM had built an even more sophisticated foundry and garage system. It would be launched at Mars in a few months, and when fully operational would make twenty-four three foot on a side triangles every sol. They would be able to make structures from as small as sixteen feet in diameter to as large as they could want. Elon would go to Mars and walk in Schiaparelli crater in his lifetime.

He had even tried to temp Mark to go with him.

He had also understood the laughter that request had led to.

Mark thanked him for the offer, and he had told Elon what to see while he was on the Red Planet, but Mark had walked his last mile on Mars. That was for others now, classes full of them. He nodded to himself as he thought about the young, bright eyed, woefully ignorant candidates he saw every day. They ran sixty, forty in his estimation. Sixty percent would not have the stuff, the right stuff they used to call it, and would have other careers inside NASA, but forty percent would go to Mars and beyond.

And the Moon was back in play.

Thanks to Mindy's stroke of brilliance they had a method of construction that didn't require shipping everything to the destination. They were going to make glass on the moon too. The lunar soil presented some challenges as it was very different from Mars, but the people at Corning were certain they could make the chemistry work. Mankind's first conquest had sat unexplored for too long, now they would be coming back.

Ares gurgled in his sleep.

Mark smirked at a new though. Rich was screwed, he'd said it himself. Three days after they had brought Ares home Clara and Rich came for dinner. As Rich had gently but confidently taken the baby into his arms Clara had melted, and Rich saw it. "Hi, Ares, I'm your uncle Rich," he had said. "You're getting me into serious trouble right now, you know that?" Ares had just cooed and stared at Rich's face.

Yeah, Rich was screwed.

Soon there would be a new Purnell, and then others in his extended family. A family that was starting to become quite large. He had his parents and Mindy's, the crew and their families, Rich and Clara, Annie and Roberta, and Hannah, Janice and their friends. As he thought about it he had a profound realization. Humanity was his family. He had to show them, convince them that this, this being at peace, this sharing of love and friendship was what humanity was meant for. He and His Holiness had talked at length about it, but it hadn't crystalized into a coherent thought and mission until this moment.

He would work with the famous and influential that saw him as some sort of hero. He would use that fame and power to change the direction of human history. They could grow and explore, or they could stagnate, and he was determined that they do the former. Now, this point in time was the moment, and he, Mark Watney, would make it happen if he could. He just needed some help, and world peace would be nice.

His very capable friends and their new organization were already working on their own version of promoting peace. First they had deftly eliminated a small group of fanatics in a North African compound that had been playing with biological fire. Then they had decided to start making little changes and see where they led. To that end they had chosen a rising star in central African politics and shielded him from those that took offence at his promotion of freedom and equality. Mark's friends would make sure the young man's enemies would have a change of heart, or they would find an opportunity in a distant country, or they would simply disappear. The young man's career would skyrocket in the coming years, and Mark smirked at the thought of how he would react to his unseen and unknown protection if he knew.

His friend, Elon Musk, older and wiser from his decades of commercial space work, was as evangelical as Mark was about mankind's destiny. Mark would use him as Elon had used Mark, and together they would storm the halls of power and the stages of public media. Annie was already there. Working tirelessly the 'Bullet Proof Bitch', as she had become known in the press room, had created funding opportunities where none had existed before, she had schmoozed with Presidents and Prime Ministers, and she had been the face of NASA's obsession with manned and unmanned space exploration.

Then there was the Ares Five launch a few short months away. Live television from another planet was always a good public relations boost. The fact that they would, intentionally this time, leave behind four of their team on the planet to continue the work, and permanently colonize Mars, would be something Mark could use every time he spoke. The Sol system contained several possible homes for his species, and Mark was rapidly determining that they should inhabit all of them. The dark side of Mercury, the Moon, Mars, Ceres, Ganymede, Calisto, Europa, and further, Titan, Rhea, Iapetus, Dion, Tethys, and perhaps even Enceladus, and Mimas could hold a cache of homo sapiens. The moons of Neptune and Uranus would have to wait a generation or two, but they were on the list, and at the edge of the system Pluto, Charon, and the other Trans Neptunian minor planets beckoned them.

Beyond that lay the stars themselves. Currently realistically unreachable by people, they taunted the space agencies of earth. Plans were on the board for a robotic mission to study Alpha Centauri B and the planets around it for five years and then return. At thirty years for the round trip, it would be the second longest duration robotic mission ever, the first being the nearly immortal Opportunity rover.

They would do it, and he would make it happen. His favorite poem ran through his head, the last lines playing over and over.

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark or even eagle flew -

And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Mark smiled down at his son. "Oh, the things you will see and do, my boy," he whispered.

Credit: John Gillespie Magee, Jr


	20. Chapter 20 Interview

Interview

"Welcome back to Today on NBC, I'm Stefani Germanotta." The camera widened to show Mark and Mindy sitting on the couch with Miss Germanotta, Mindy gently cradling a nine month old Ares. "Our guests this morning are the Watney family." She turned to Mark and Mindy. Ares bounced in his mother's lap and held out his hands toward Stefanie.

"He just loves you," Mindy said as she handed Ares to her.

"I'm rather fond of him," Stefanie said as she sat Ares on her knee. "Well, Mark you've been on a whirlwind tour of the powerful and influential the last few weeks, are you happy to be home?"

Mark chuckled and smiled. "Well, New York ain't home, but yeah. I hate being away from Mindy and Ares, though what I've been accomplishing is worth it."

"Your meeting went well with the Pope, The Dali Lama, and their friends?"

Mark nodded. "I wanted them all in the same room so I could try to convince them that they have to work together, that the never-ending violence in the name of religion has to stop."

"Good luck with that," Stefanie said snidely.

"I understand your skepticism," Mark said. "But we made real progress." He sat back looking thoughtful. "Just the pictures of the twenty of us together are doing a lot."

"The Pope and the Imams seemed to have made a real friendship," Stefanie said.

"They found that they are more alike than different," Mark said. "I told them when you are absolutely alone, fifty million miles from home, all this political and religious bullshit… sorry but that's the word I used, and it's just that, bullshit. I told them it makes no fu… sense. I used that word too. I was relatively blunt. Well, I took them for a walk in the desert." He snorted. "I have to pat myself on the back for choosing Alice Springs. Hotter than hell, desolate, perfect. We drove them out to Uluru, Ayers Rock, and then a few miles further out into the desert. I got them out of the bus, handed them a little walking stick with a seat attached." He chuckled. "They're very cool, apparently they sell a lot of them in Alice Springs. Anyway, I told them to walk off a thousand steps, each in a different direction. We had a portable air horn, and I told them I'd give them an hour to meditate on what we talked about. So I waited an hour and a half." He winked at Stefanie. "'Cause I'm like that, and I set off the horn. Just that ninety minutes changed them."

Stefanie leaned forward while bouncing Ares on her knee. "How?" she asked.

"I had told them about an average day for me on Mars," Mark said. "I told them that I would go out into the Martian wilderness and just be. Just to look around and marvel at the fact I was alive in the middle of this desolate, spectacular beauty was a very spiritual experience."

He smiled. "A couple of the evangelicals were a little freaked out when they returned, and the Dali Lama thought that was hilarious. We had dinner and talked about what they had learned." He sat back and smiled. "They got my point, all of them."

"You and Mindy don't talk about religion in public," Stefanie said. "What would you like to say about that?"

"We have very similar beliefs," Mark said and shared a smile with his wife. "Neither of us was raised in a particularly religious house, and that has been a great blessing." he smirked at the irony of his statement. "Speaking for myself, I found that in the midst of my monastic existence on Mars I came to realize that I didn't believe in an active god, but that I did believe there is purpose and direction in the universe. I believe that we have a potential, and that the worst 'sin' is to not use, not live up to that potential. If there is a god then it's the prime mover, the force that tipped the domino that was the Big Bang." He smiled. "My friend, the director of Mars Operations Venkat Kapoor, says he thinks we are the experiential nature of the divine."

Mark looked at the camera with the red light. "If he's right, if that thing we like to call the soul is our little piece of god, that the thing that set all this in motion resides in all of us, then it behooves us to act like it." He held up his hands. "Look, look at my hands, look at yours. These are the hands of god." He pointed to his eyes. "These are the eyes of god, looking back at you in the mirror, and in the face of a stranger." He pointed to his ears. "And these ears are the ears of god, and they hear all." He tapped his chest. "And this, this is the will of god. You know when you're doing the right thing. It's just so obvious, so listen to that voice of the divine inside you, and do the right thing. It can be hard, but in the end it's what makes us human."

Mindy smiled and kissed his cheek while Stefanie just stared.

Wow," She said in stunned admiration. "Tell me you said that to them."

"Word for word."

Stefanie smiled and patted Marks hand. "Okay, well, we'll be right back with Mindy, and see what she's doing."

The program cut away to a commercial for the latest offering in Tesla's fully solar powered sports car line. While they were in the break Mark took fussing Ares from Stefanie and began pacing around the studio with him. He showed his son the cameras and their operators, the sound man and his helper, and the floor director. A thin blonde woman of about twenty-five, the floor director smiled and cupped Ares' cheek before announcing, "Thirty." Mark walked back to the couch and sat as she counted them down.

"And we're back with Mark, Mindy, and Ares Watney," Stefanie said. She turned to Mindy. "So, we know what Mark's been up to. Besides the huge job of being a mother I understand you're back in the Guidance chair in Mission Control."

Mindy nodded. "Yeah, NASA has been at the forefront of integrating family and our highly demanding profession since before I was born. They worked with us," she said. "Mark is essentially part time. His classes only really take four hours a day so he takes care of Ares most of the time."

"I understand our young man here is a frequent visitor in Mission Control," Stefanie said while reaching across Mindy and smoothing Ares' hair.

Mindy smiled and blushed a little. "He spends a few hours a day in a bassinette next to the console," she said. "The team kind of demanded it."

"Demanded it?" Stefanie asked.

Mindy chuckled. "Um, well I once told a friend that I work in a building full of forty year old virgins, and that's not far from the truth, but what I didn't realize is that I'm also in with a bunch of frustrated parents." She turned to the camera. "So, all you folks out there that have been… less than well treated by the opposite sex, date a geek, date a nerd. I personally guarantee you won't regret it." She smiled and Mark. "Really."

Stefanie giggled. "And when you're not trying to hook up your coworkers?"

Mark laughed and Mindy playfully slapped his arm when he whispered, "Yenta."

"I've been managing the foundry systems during Brendon's off shifts, and directing guidance on the Hermes and the Lasso craft when needed," she said.

"And Elon Musk?"

"Elon and I have been finalizing the launch plans for Foundry Two and its service garage. We missed Hohmann for this time, so were thinking of a retrograde approach. Rather than launch at Mars for a close approach arrival we're aiming to have the foundry and garage arrive while Mars is in Conjunction or close to it."

"I've learned a little about this at dinner with you two," Stefanie said. "Isn't that the long way around?"

Mindy smiled. "Ah, but you forget Rich!" she said "Our astrodynamicist has got that covered. We're thinking of launching April to early March, and using Venus as a gravity assist. It results in a great saving in fuel usage to get to Mars, and that will let us have enough fuel to slow the spacecraft when we arrive at Mars. Elon really wants the foundry in operation when he gets there."

"What?" Stefanie said in surprise.

"Opps," Mindy said, and looked at the camera. "Sorry, Elon." She turned back to Stefanie. "Elon is hoping to go during the January February Hohmann of forty-six on his Dragon Twenty craft. I think he and his team have it ready."

"Will he be selling seats?" Stefanie asked.

"Yes, and they're sold already," Mindy said with a laugh. "Sorry, Steff. Maybe next time."

"Damn," Stefanie whispered, and Mark laughed.

"Well when he does get there he'll have plenty to do," Mindy said. "The new foundry will make triangles that fit together to become hexagons for geodesic domes. We're hoping for a real settlement when the Kore starts taking colonists in Mach of forty-eight."

How is the construction of the Kore going?" Stefanie asked.

Mark leaned in. "It's ahead of schedule by about a month. The fitting of the inner and outer hull segments went a lot faster than the very conservative estimate from JPL suggested. She's nearly a pressure vessel now. In about five months we'll be filling her with air and water."

"And that will come from the captured comet HB2031B?"

"Yes," Mindy said. "Rich and the comet capture team did a spectacular job. We'll be beginning deceleration into earth orbit in a few days. It'll be another four months before it's parked off the Malaysian Space Dock, but then the processors can start making air and water from it. " She chuckled. "The Lasso mission is one of the cheapest things NASA has ever done. Ten million for the spacecraft and fifteen for the launch, and it proves Rich's plan for Mars too."

Stefanie smiled. "We're really going to do it." It wasn't a question.

Mark nodded. "Yeah, Steff," he said. "We're really going to do it. We can sit here fat dumb and happy, or we can do what we're… destined to do. Mars will be our second home, but just our second, and definitely not our last stop. We need to fill the system with humanity. We need to explore the outer reaches, and we need to send probes to the nearest stars."

"You sound like Annie," Stefanie said.

Mindy laughed. "No, Annie sounds like Mark," she said. "He's a little outspoken on this subject."

Stefanie nodded. "I know," she said. "And, there's one more thing I know that our viewers don't, care to let them in on it?"

Mindy smirked. "What, oh, you mean that our second child is due in October?"

A murmur of chirped cheers ran through the studio as the normally quiet and professional television crew reacted.

In the green room a woman gaped at the screen. "That bitch!" Hannah said into her phone with a grin. "She kept it from us, successfully!"

"She is very smart and crafty, our Mindy, non, Andrew?" Janice said, standing in the conference room addressing the speaker phone on the table and the other occupant of the room.

Andrew chuckled. "Oui, Miss Perrin," he said. "Almost as smart as you are."

(*)

Twenty million miles from the earth small thrusters fired on one of the four landers attached to comet HB2031B. The gentle trust rotated the comet on it Y axis until the main engine lander was almost pointing at the Earth. Other thrusters fired on the main engine lander and the Y axis lander, halting the comets rotation. With sporadic pulses from all four landers the comet stabilized with the main engine pointed exactly in the direction the comet was traveling. Its current course and velocity would have it flying by the earth, missing it hundreds of thousands of miles.

The main engine fired. A VASMIR Five, the main engine produced two thousand newtons of force, and it began the gradual slowing of the seven hundred by five hundred foot snowball. As it slowed, the Earth's gravity would overcome the comets decreasing momentum, and it would fall into orbit. More adjustments would gradually bring it alongside the space dock.

A fleet of small, robotic craft would then traverse the two miles from the dock to the comet and begin mining the frozen gasses and water for use in the Kore. When the Kore was filled the remainder of the comet would supply the space dock with gasses and water for several years.

A few million miles in a completely different direction the Hermes approached Mars. She was coming back again to deliver a crew of scientists and explorers, and four of them would stay, building structures that would stand on Mars for millennia. Far in humanities future, when they were flung across the vast cosmos, the glass houses of Mars would be almost sacred sites. Preserved in their entirety, they would be left as evidence of mankind's limitless drive and imagination, and a testament to its will.


	21. Chapter 21 Reprise

Reprise

Mark smiled as his son tottered across the floor of the greenhouse toward him. "Da, da, da," Ares said as he held out his stuffed toy replica of the Hermes. Mark scooped up his miniature astronaut, dressed in his Ares mission suit onesie, and then flew him down the aisles and around the hanging pots making whooshing sounds while Ares held out his toy and laughed uncontrollably.

(*)

The morning class had gone very well. Most of the session had been spent watching the Ares Five crew assemble greenhouse segments and critiquing the actions of the Ares Five crew members. Mark was taking the opportunity of a live feed from Mars to illustrate what the actual job was. It had been very instructive to the candidates, four of which he was already convinced were going into space.

After about three hours of observation and discussion they had made their way across the Houston campus to the Chris Craft Mission Control building. More than ten rooms were now dedicated to the various operations NASA was conducting. Among them was the ongoing and immortal Opportunity control staffed by four dedicated scientists and engineers. There was the Lasso flight control room, there were two different control rooms for the space docks, there was the International Space Station control room, and there was the main control room, where currently the Ares Five mission was their prime focus.

Mark led his candidates into the observation lounge and told them to have a seat and watch the operations while he checked on his son. On the main floor of the control room Ares slept next to his mother in the bassinet. Francine Noel, occupying the Satcon seat, moaned as she saw Mark appear.

"Time for him to go already?" she whined.

Mindy turned from her console and rose to kiss her husband. "You are a bit early," she said.

"Oh, we're not leaving yet. I brought the class over to see Mission Control," he told her. "I'll bring them down a few at a time to talk to you guys, okay?"

The people around Mindy nodded, and Mark thanked them. His cadets were polite and respectful as he cycled them through, and they asked insightful and probing questions about the ongoing operations on the surface. Several were particularly interested in the biomonitoring station. They were both surprised and relived to find out how closely the health of the Ares team members was monitored. One, a mechanical engineer that Mark knew would go into space, was obsessively interested in the construction of the greenhouses. He asked, and was granted permission, to take control of one of the site monitoring cameras focused on the current assembly of greenhouse two. He sat next to the Video Control station, pointing the camera at different parts of the greenhouse and studying the assembly for the rest of the session.

Another candidate asked about the foundry systems, and Mindy had been more than happy to guide him through the entire system monitoring and process. Unknown to Mindy and almost everyone else, Commander Smith had been instructed to bring the first QC sample block back from Mars. The very first panel cast by the foundry would be set aside as a historical object, and because of that the QC block would not need to be kept. Commander Smith had it safely tucked in her storage bin on the MAV already, and when she returned to Earth she would pass it off to Director Sanders. Teddy had been in contact with Tiffany's in New York, and they were proud to have been chosen to mount the half inch by half inch by three inch ingot of Martian glass in a silver setting. At the congressional reception of twenty-forty-six Mindy would be presented with one of the most valuable pieces of jewelry on the planet.

She would wear it until the day she died, and then it would hang in the Smithsonian.

(*)

His son slept in the crib as he watched.

All his work, all the endless talking was yielding results, and as Ares slept on Mark felt the tension ease. They were making it happen, he and his friends were. The Pope and the Dali Lama, who had become the best of friends themselves, were currently circling the world on a speaking tour. They carried the message of peace and unity as they traveled. Preaching it to the developed nations and to those still struggling with the effects of the changing climate. His other friends were quietly working behind the scenes, pulling strings and making subtle changes that would yield dramatic results. His meeting and subsequent friendship with U.N. Secretary General Malala Yousafzai had led to his addressing the general assembly the previous month, and he had felt the world change around him in that moment. Humanity was waking from the fog of history, they were looking beyond their narrow confines and out into the universe, and from the sands of Mars Mark had pointed the way.

They had got it, he could sense it in the way people talked now, and the whole of the Earth had a new purpose. They were no longer bound to just this planet, no longer prisoners of fate, no longer destined to be marooned on a single island in space. They would reach beyond Earth, and Mars was just the beginning. There was a new end game now, the stars.

Out at the edge of the system, beyond Pluto where the effects of the sun's gravity were weakest, they would do the gravity experiments that would lead to the breakthroughs. There they would find the secrets to flipping between the stars, he was certain of that. The math had been done, the theories tested, now they needed a laboratory to do the research and development.

Looking at the clock in the nursery, Mark saw it was time to start thinking about food. Mindy was in the middle of her second trimester, the morning sickness was passing, and she could really pack it away he thought with a grin. He always smiled when he thought of her. She, the mystery woman watching him from space, had become her. Mindy, his world, and then they had become a family. Now another little astronaut would be joining them in five months.

With Ares down for his afternoon nap Mark had time to cook, so he went to the refrigerator in the kitchen and studied the contents for a moment. He chuckled, nodded, and slid the meat drawer open. Two large andouille lay wrapped in white paper. He smiled to himself and picked up the package and the bag of prawns next to it. After setting them out on the counter he went to the computer in the corner and activated the messenger program.

Open session (Watney, Mi)

(Watney,Ma)Hey there, how's our little astronaut today?

 **And so we've come full circle. I'd like to thank all of those who have read and reviewed, especially Knightpheonix, for their encouragement and praise. The Martian has become one of my favorite stories, and I can't thank my fellow geek Andy Weir enough.**

 **As you may have divined I have some experience and exposure to many of the areas covered in this little story. The tech for the foundry and garage systems exists now, we could do it tomorrow if we had the will. The chemistry of the sands of Mars is as I have described, and the specs I stated for the panels are accurate. Plus, the beautiful aqua color they would be would contrast nicely with the red sands of Mars.**

 **I have also worked with the intelligence community. We live in an isolated little bubble, most of us, and we never even get a passing whiff of the terrors these people deal with every day. If you think Janice, Hannah and their friends are pure fiction, think again. All of these characters were drawn from people I know in real life. They are smart, they are funny, and they are lethal.**

 **And they have saved all our lives a hundred times over.**

 **So fear not, everyone, I have plans for a series of shorts to follow. I'm going to call it "Life on Mars?" because, you know.**

 **After all, I have to tell you about Elon on Mars…**


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